The Slayers' bond
by Gabbage20
Summary: Ever since early childhood, Buffy Summers has had dreams about another girl a lot like her. They're not just dreams as she soon discovers, but nightly meetings between them. Trouble arises as the girls grow up and face everything. Will they make it?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS!**

**A/N – **This is a rather AU story, that might take a turn towards the dark side of Slash later on. All that depends on the feedback. Faith's here, that's for sure, but her relationship with the Scoobies, might be in the hands of the reviewers... Get my drift:P

So anyways, there are a lot of things different here than they were in the canon. For example, Kenda never happened. Also the slayer bond thingy has been warped to match my weird imagination and Oz might stick around. Another thing that is up for a poll. Come on, read on! But don't forget to review. I don't get anything else out of this, you know :F

NB - Thank you, Missingviolet, for pointing out the awful paragraphing thing. I swear to god it looked okay in Word! Got it fixed now and hopefully it'll be more easy to read.

** Chapter 1**

"Buffy, duck!" A boy yelled from the other side of the playground as a huge basketball now headed towards the blonde. Buffy Summers turned around just in time to see it. Sure that it was going to collide with her face, she let out a yell and prepared herself for the pain.

It never came. She opened her eyes that she had closed a moment ago. The basketball was hovering in front of her. No it wasn't hovering; it was just being held on the palm of a girl's hand.

"Faith," Buffy exclaimed. The girl looked at her, her brown hair falling slightly over her chocolate eyes that were full of laughter.

"Tell me, B," she spoke, throwing the ball over her shoulder, where it bounced into the nothingness. The whole playground was disappearing. But the two girls calmly walked away, chatting.

"... Why do you keep dreaming of being hurt, huh?" she asked, mock frowning, "Is there something you want to talk about?"

Rolling her eyes, Buffy elbowed her friend gently.

Anxious to change the subject away from the previous dream she had been having, the blonde spoke up, "So how's it going?"

The laughter in Faith's eyes disappeared and she gave her a wry smile. "Five by five?" she offered.

"Five by what? What does that mean?" Buffy asked, curious.

"No idea," the brunette chuckled. "My uncle uses it all the time and I guess it means fine or something."

The scenery around them had changed completely. The playground had disappeared and instead they were now in a living room of sorts. There was a large couch with pillows in front of a fireplace, a small table between them. That was pretty much it. Not asking any questions, Buffy plopped onto the couch, waiting until her friend joined her to ask,

"You have an uncle? How come I've missed that factoid?"

Faith got more comfortable, by bringing her knees to her chest. She shrugged. "Because I've never heard of him until two days ago?"

"Yeah, that begins to explain it. So where did he pop up from?"

The brunette gave her a half of a shrug, smiling wryly. It was a look Buffy had deciphered years ago.

"What happened?" she whispered, a small part of her fearing the worst.

"Nothing," Faith replied, averting her eyes.

"Right," Buffy spoke sarcastically. "Listen, if you don't want to talk to me about it, I won't bother you, you know? Just... are you okay?"

A hesitant nod came from Faith. She glanced at her best friend. She knew that Buffy knew her better than anyone else in the world. It's not like many people made any effort anyways.

She couldn't remember when the first time she met Buffy in her dreams was. It had to be when she was like... six or something! At first they didn't made a big deal out of it. It was a dream. But as they started to find themselves alone in a sand box almost every day as soon as they fell asleep, they began to talk. They grew closer and the dreams, while they got slightly more infrequent, started to last a lot longer.

It was a dream. It made everything seem easier. They could reveal their secrets and not worry about them being revealed. Soon it went to such lengths, that both of them told each other things they've never told anyone else. Buffy was Faith's security blanket. Someone who made her feel totally safe during those few nights in a week that they met in. Someone she could trust.

With that in his mind, Faith's brown eyes locked with Buffy's concerned emerald ones.

The twelve year old sighed. "It's my mother. I, I couldn't stay with her anymore and if my uncle hadn't taken me in I would've most likely ended up with Social Services or something."

The blonde girl remained quiet, waiting for Faith to continue. The brunette gave her a look, but did so anyways.

"She got mad at Roger or Richard or whatever this one's name is and she kicked him out," she chuckled, her eyes clouding, "She drank, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time... One thing led to another and she... she..."

"You know," she tilted her head, not wanting to speak the words. Buffy did understand what she meant, but she didn't understand how a mother could do that.

"How bad," she asked softly instead.

"Not too bad, but I fell. Hit my head, got knocked out," her eyes darted around the room, "The next thing I knew Social Service people were all around me questioning me about the bruises on my face. They tracked down my relatives and only my Uncle was willing to take me in."

A silence followed. Buffy broke it.

"Mum freaked today. She found my diary and she 'happened' to read it. I got a whole speech about 'imaginary friends' all over again."

"What? She's still saying that? Jeez, it's been like six years," Faith chuckled, thankful for the change of subject. "I'd think she'd understand that I'm not a phase or something. I do exist, you know?"

Buffy too smiled. "Actually I'm not sure if I should be madder at mum for reading my diary or for treating me like a five year old."

"And your dad?"

"He came by yesterday for Dawn's play," Buffy shrugged, "I barely saw him. He came fashionable late and left before it ended."

"Ah."

"My life stinks!" The blonde girl suddenly exclaimed throwing her hands up. "Everything's so messed up right now."

"Tell me about it," Faith sighed, leaning against the pillows. "My life hasn't smelled like roses since... like ever."

"Depressive."

"Depressive," Faith agreed with the blonde girl. "So your date with... Michael?"

"Even more depressive."

Faith sniggered at the look on Buffy's face. "That bad?"

"He tried to... He tried to..." Buffy flushed a bright red colour. "I can't... I mean..."

"Okay, calm down, twinkie," Faith ordered, totally amused. "What did he try to do?"

Buffy mumbled something under her breath. Faith heard her anyways.

"I won't laugh. Really. I won't."

"He.tried.to.kiss.me."

Moment of silence

"He tried to kiss you," Faith repeated staring at her. "As in on the cheek?"

"No as on the lips! I freaked, F. I mean, I seriously freaked," Buffy muttered, hiding her face into her hands and trying to make the burning feeling go away. Needless to say it didn't.

"Um, I thought you 'liked' Michael," Buffy peeked through her fingers to see her best friend looking at her with confusion.

"Yeah," she responded.

"So, why were you so freaked?" Faith inched closer, interested. She always liked the whole heart-to-heart between the two friends. Buffy always had something to say that surprised her.

"I don't know," the blonde responded. When Faith gave her the look, she insisted, "I don't!"

More of the look from Faith.

"Fine," Buffy huffed, "I just... You know... can't... I've never..."

"Woah, time out," Faith clutched her pillow in shock. "You've never kissed anyone before?"

The pillow that hit her face suggested that she wasn't very subtle about her shock.

"You know, not all of us manage to kiss five guys in ten minutes."

The brunette girl waggled her eyebrows, "Gotta love spin the bottle."

"Well, I'm not as brave as that. I can't kiss boys."

"Why? Afraid of getting cooties?"

Another pillow hit Faith's face. The teenager groaned. "Stop that, B!"

"Stop mocking me!" Buffy said, folding her arms over her chest.

"I wasn't mocking, I was telling the facts," the brunette shrugged. She then grinned comfortingly. "It's not that bad. Not if you find a normal guy. Some guys try to..." she shuddered at the thought. "But you just... go with the flow."

"Go with the flow," Buffy raised an eyebrow. "When did you began having faith in metaphors."

"Hey, now you're mocking me."

"Nope, just stating the truth," Buffy denied. "But for the record, it's bad when a boy tries to kiss you and you break away and run as fast as you can."

"Duh."

"Thought so," Buffy spoke. "My life is so messed up."

XxXxXxXxXx

She approached the target slowly. She could hear the swing moving. Just as she was supposed to step out of the shadows, the girl on the swings jerked slightly.

"Jeez, trying to give me a fucking heart attack, B?" The teenager on the swings turned to look at the girl in question, "Were you a stalker in your previous life or something."

"Possibly," Buffy sat onto the swing. "It's been a while."

"Yeah," Faith whispered softly.

During the last year, their shared dreams had lost their frequency. Now they barely met twice a month. It was weird, given that the two of them spent about half of their childhood dreams together. They both felt like they were losing their best friend. And it wasn't a nice feeling.

"Hey, you alright?" Buffy noticed the look on Faith's face. "Did something happen?"

"Yeh. I guess. I don't know. This is as confusing as hell," she glanced at her friend. "I... I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

For a moment Buffy looked slightly hurt. The brunette quickly shook her head,

"No. It's not like I don't want to tell you. I do. But... it's complicated. Like really complicated. I don't even get some of the stuff."

"Come on. Try me," Buffy pushed off the ground, swinging slowly.

"You can't tell anyone and don't laugh. It's kind of weird, but it's serious," Faith bit her lip. Buffy stopped the swinging. She rarely saw the other girl nervous.

"I promise," the blonde spoke, turning the chains slightly, so she was facing her. "Come on, you know you can tell me."

Faith nodded slowly. "Well, you know how I was supposed to go to the foster home when Mum hit me three weeks ago?"

Buffy scowled but nodded her head. Faith's mum had for unknown reasons gotten Faith back to live with her. For some time Faith had even believed that things were going to work out. Then Martin showed up. More drinking, more yelling, more violence. Resulting in Faith being hurt.

"Well, anyways, I never made it to that foster home. No, don't look at me like that. I promised you I wouldn't run and I didn't, but this woman came up to me and she told me... stuff. Stuff I didn't want to believe. But she showed me. She showed me that they really exist."

"What exist?" Buffy looked at her friend, who was looking rather pale.

"The vampires and demons, B. I know it sounds crazy and I can't explain what's going on, but... But it's real. They exist and I'm, I'm a potential, what ever that is," Faith swallowed. When Buffy opened her mouth to speak, Faith raised a hand. "Wait let me finish."

"I know I'm only thirteen and a half and all, but Diana, she says I have to train, because someday I could become the Slayer, no idea what that was, but it seemed important. She's taking me away, to live with her. My mum doesn't give a damn and I... I just want to get away."

The girl looked at her blonde friend. "I'm not expecting you to understand, but I saw a vampire. Rising for the grave and then turning to dust. Diana says doing that is my destiny. I need a destiny, B."

She tucked her hair behind her ear. "You must think I'm going whacko, don't you?"

Buffy was rendered speechless. "Vampires exist?" she finally asked, surprised.

Faith nodded slowly, before looking at her. "You... you believe me? Like that? You believe me?"

"Of course I believe you. You're my best friend and I love you. I have to believe you. Besides why the hell would you lie about something like that?"

Faith blinked several times, before speaking again. "This is crazy. Now I think I'm imagining this conversation. You are so... calm about this? How can you be calm? I almost fainted!"

"Fainted?"

"No, not really. I don't faint," Faith argued, "But still. You're cool about this? You're not going to think I'm crazy and this conversation, it's really happening."

"As far as I can think yes it is happening and no, I don't think your crazy. Now come on, swinging contest? You look like you could loosen up a little."

"Oh, you're so on, B."

So they swung a bit and then bet on who could jump further. On weird note, they both landed on the exact same line.

"I win," Faith finally announced after the whole measuring.

"How do you figure that?" the blonde gazed at her. "I'm pretty sure I landed farther away."

"No you didn't," Faith responded. "I'm a better swingjumper, admit it."

"Not for the world," Buffy grinned. "I've seen five year olds jump farther. Hence, I win, because out of the two of us, I'm the only one with the intelligence above a five year old."

"Okay, that might've not made sense, but you're going down anyways, B!" Faith lunged at her and the two of them rolled on the ground, in a huge tickling competition. Buffy finally won, sitting on Faith's stomach.

"Admit it, I won," she said smugly.

"I did," Faith argued. That brought on another round of tickling. "Fine," she gasped. "I.Give. You fucking. Win."

"Ah, watch your language, will you? Mum already yelled at me for cursing. You're bad influence on me."

"Aw, is little Buffy using too big words," Faith teased.

"Right, you're forgetting who has the control here," Buffy grinned down at her, still positioned on her stomach. "Do you want a remainder."

"Hah, like you..."

"Fa-a-a-i-t-h."

The call was so distant, but Faith recognized the voice.

"That's Diana. She's here to pick me up. I should... I should wake up soon," the brunette looked up at Buffy. The blonde got off of her and reached out a hand. Faith grabbed it, grinning.

"So, I'll see you whenever we share a dream again?"

"Yeah, like always. See you, Faith."

"See you, B!"

Then Faith's outlines blurred and a moment later she disappeared completely. Unknown to both girls, this was the last dream they shared for a long time.

Time passed and soon both girls begun to forget about each other. Not completely, since that wasn't possible. They thought of each other once a while, but Buffy was busy trying to help her now single mother take care of the household and going to school. She even started cheerleading.

Faith on the other hand spent her time with Diana, her Watcher, as she was told. She took better care of her than any adult had ever before and they fell into a pattern consisting of school, training and free time alike.

It was a short while after Buffy's fifteenth birthday, when an accident occurred.

**Many miles away in California**

"Come on, Vanessa," a man whispered, "Breathe."

He took in a big gulp of air, lowered his mouth to Vanessa's and blew, while applying some pressure to her chest.

Nothing. Still no pulse.

"Vanessa, come on." She was bleeding. He could see that much, but she also had been underwater for so long. The vampire had stabbed her and then pushed her down the bridge.

He once again repeated the procedure. His heart jumped, when the green eyed slayer coughed. She was alive.

"Merrick?"

"I'm here. I'm here," he spoke gently, "Don't move, you're hurt."

"Merrick, I..." She coughed, blood trickled down the corners of her mouth, "I'm sorry. I should've listened. You're my Watcher and I..." she coughed and more blood appeared. The man looked close to crying.

"Don't. Nessa, keep fighting. Don't give up."

"I'm sorry I lost," Vanessa whispered, her black hair falling over her eyes. Then her eyes fell closed.

"No, Vanessa. Vanessa!"

It was over. She was dead. A single tear running down his cheek, Merrick had no idea what was happening.

Far away Buffy Summers' dreams shifted. Instead of random stuff, she began having violent dreams about women from different periods of history slaying monsters. She had no idea what was happening to her until a man approached her. His name was Merrick Jamison-Smythe and he was her Watcher.

The day she met him was a big day in Buffy's life. Not only did she get an important destiny and a lot more information about ... everything, she also got back Faith.

But that's a whole another chapter.  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

A/N – Okay, what do you think? Good, bad? Great, horrible? Let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She paced around the room thinking hard. This was a joke. This had to be a joke. Some stupid joke.

Someone was playing a trick on her. Yeah, that's what it is. A trick. The pacing continued.

How did he make a person, wait, uh, a vampire, disappear like that? Illusion? That must be it. She paced some more, unable to figure out what she was thinking. Out of the sudden she's "The Slayer."

Well what if she doesn't want to be the Slayer? Huh? What then?

She paced.

Her tiny room didn't have much pacing room, but she used every inch of it as she thought. Merrick, the man in his early thirties, had shown him how a man climbed out of his grave . Like alive. Then he had killed him. No, he slayed him... Or is it slew?

Buffy groaned. Her brain was failing her. Stupid brain. Note to self: Get yourself a brain that can reason.

More pacing followed. This was utter crap. Really. Buffy was fifteen and a cheerleader. She didn't gallop around with a wooden stick to poke people with. Or 'slay vampires' as Merrick had put it so charmingly.

_"Slaying vampires my ass," _Buffy bitterly thought. _"This is a prank. Probably that girl who I voted to be kicked out from the squad . But well, she did show up with a Mohawk so that's justified..."_

She groaned. Another note to self: Get a brain that stays on the train of thought.

Then she paced some more.

"Buffy? What are you doing up there?"

"Nothing, Mom. Just... Practising my cheers," the blonde yelled back.

"It's late. Go to bed, okay?"

"Okay, mom," she hollered, falling onto her bed a minute later.

_"The Powers that Be... What kind of name is that? Sounds like a whole bunch of crackheads and now they have this crazy idea to make me a slayer,"_ Buffy whined in her mind like a five year old, "_Well I'll tell them where they can shove that slayer thing of theirs..."  
_  
_"I wonder if they have an apartment around here somewhere..."_

"Okay, I'll be there. I'm going to try and sneak out for five minutes. Mom won't notice."

Buffy looked up from her bed. Who said that? She glanced under her bed and into her closet. Suddenly she started to fear the closet monsters again.

"Yea, wait for me by the corner of the house."

Buffy clearly heard the voice from the hallway somewhere. Was that voice Dawn's?

She sneaked out of her room and two doors left, opening that door as quietly as possible. Dawn was sitting on her bed, her hand on the receiver as she whispered into it.

Yet Buffy heard her every word. Freaky.

"Mom, wouldn't like you going outside right now."

Dawn let out a girlish scream and dropped the receiver, clutching a hand to her chest. "Jesus Friggin' Christ, were you a stalker in your previous life or something?"

"Possibly," Buffy said with a crooked grin, suddenly sensing a weird déjà vu. "Just know that I know you know that you know I'll be watching you."

Dawn expressed herself smartly. "Huh?"

Buffy just grinned once again and left the room, hearing Dawn's hushed voice all the way to her bedroom.

"No, I think my sister just snapped her cap or something..."

Okay, so she could hear whispered conversation through walls and stuff. No biggie.

One more note to self: Get a brain that can at least lie to itself.

Buffy started to pace again. This was so not normal. Why can't she be normal? She'd give up everything to be normal. Well except her house and her family and her friends and her Mr. Piggy, the stuffed toy she had slept with since being four or so. Oh and her CD-s. She really liked her collection.

Wait, back to the point. Enhanced hearing. Something Slayers tended to have. Well, she didn't want the enhanced hearing. She really didn't, especially since she could now hear her mother singing downstairs. She shuddered slightly and jumped back onto her bed.

"Someone save me," she muttered into the pillow that she placed onto her face. She raised it away and looked at the closet. She had pulled the door off its hinges earlier. See, that's how normal Buffy Summers was.

She groaned. Pulling off her sweatpants and T-shirt, she climbed under the covers. She'll think about the weird Merrick guy in the morning. Maybe her brain will even be co-operative then.

She closed her eyes and shifted her position in the bed several times, before she got comfortable. Then for some reason, Dawn's words popped to her mind.

"Were you like a stalker in your previous life," she had asked. Now, lying in her bed, Buffy remembered who had said that to her before.

Faith.

It had been so long. Sometimes Buffy even wondered that maybe her mother was right. Maybe Faith really was someone she made up so she could have a best friend who'd understand everything she went through.

Faith... Buffy's eyes snapped open. Hadn't Faith told her that she was a Potential who could become a Slayer during the last dream they shared almost one and a half years ago?

Okay, now his brain was thinking, huh? Like she needed even more of this confusing stuff. Stupid brain.

She didn't know how long she stayed up, but when she opened her eyes, she was pretty sure she hadn't slept more than a minute.

She yawned and was about to get out of bed, when she noticed her left arm was numb. When she glanced to her left, there was only a little she could do not to fall off the bed right there.

There was a girl. In her bed. Sleeping on her arm.

All kinds of thoughts ran through Buffy's brain and the only thing she understood was that her brain was completely and utterly useless.

With her mouth hanging open slightly, she tried to look at the girl. She didn't see much, since brown and slightly curly hair kept blocking her view of the girl's face, but she was pretty sure that it WAS NOT someone who should be in her bed.

She was about to wiggle her way out of the grasp of the other girl, who was basically using her as a human pillow, when the girl mumbled in her sleep. Then as she felt a figure next to her, her eyes snapped open and her head turned faster than most people blink. She stared at the blonde a few moments, before letting out a small yell and jumping backwards. Shocked, Buffy did the same and thus she fell off the bed with a thump.

There was a moment of silence.

"Uh, are you alright?"

Buffy grabbed the hand that was reached towards her hesitantly. "Fine. Just... what are you doing in my room?"

The girl with dark brown hair was looking around. " What the fuck? This is my ro...om. Wait this is so not my room. How'd I get here?"

"Actually," Buffy too was looking around, just to avoid looking at the other girl. "This isn't my room either. This is like..."

Memories flooded her. This room. She had been here before. Only then, then there was a fireplace and a couch in here not a big bed.

In realization both girls turned around in almost the same time. Buffy's eyes raked over the girl in front of her. She was a few inched longer than Buffy, had long dark brown curly hair and the chocolate eyes Buffy would recognize anywhere. Also, on a slightly fashion-y note, she was dressed in leather pants and a white wifebeater.

"Faith?" she half stated, half asked.

Faith, who until now had stared at the girl in front of her with hidden shock, looked up. "B?"

Buffy sat onto the bed wordlessly. She looked around. "What... I mean you... Here..."

"I don't," Faith begun.

"Yeah me neither," Buffy glanced at her, before she grinned slightly. "You've... grown."

"Ya, so have you, B," Faith hesitantly sat onto the bed also, but a bit away. "You look wicked hot," she added as an afterthought .

Buffy laughed. No matter how much time passes, Faith will still make her laugh. "So do you. I see you got rid of that bushy hair of yours," she commented.

Grinning, the brunette flicked her now pretty straight hair around. "Yeah, it kinda grew that way." She gave a small smile to the blonde. "I see your hair hasn't grown a lot."

"Oh, I kind of cut it," Buffy spoke. Her hair really was short, but she'd gotten used to it by now. Unsure how to act, she looked at Faith, who wasn't looking much more comfortable.

"It's been a while," the blonde offered. Faith nodded, but didn't help her carry on the conversation. Instead she kept staring at her lap.

"Nice pants, by the way."

That got a chuckle out of her. "Yeah, I like 'em too. Not very comfy on hot days or anything, but..."

She turned to Buffy, forgetting the small talk. "Missed ya, kind of."

"Kind of," Buffy mocked, with a teasing smile on her face, "You missed me, kind of?"

"Oh, gimme a break here," Faith laughed, "I'm not very feeling-y girl, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde waved her hand, "I remember that much, Miss. I'll-never-tell-anyone-how-I-feel."

"Hey!" Faith yelled, "I have never said anything like that!" She paused. "Have I?"

Buffy threw herself more onto the bed. Faith joined her side. "So..."

"So..." Buffy mimicked.

"I'm going to school properly again," the brunette offered, her dimples showing as she grinned. "Yup, physics and math and everything."

"Freshman in high school?"

"Yeah, it's annoying often, but I survive," Faith pulled a pillow under her chin. "Di pretty much makes me do that shit."

"Ah, you still can't stop cursing, huh?" Buffy teased. Faith responded, by nudging her slightly.

"Let a girl be. At least I'm not all blonde."

"Hey!"

The girls laughed and started to speak about the changes in their lives. They hadn't gotten to speak much when Buffy's outlines blurred. Someone was shaking her.

"You're going already?" Faith sat up, "Cmon we just got started."

"I really don't want to," Buffy groaned, trying to stop the person shaking her. "Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Buffy asked, almost transparent.

"I'll try my best," the brunette smiled a wry smile, knowing better than to make empty promises. After all, she remembered what happened after their last met.

Buffy surprised her by hugging her tightly. "See you."

Before Faith could even get over the shock, she had disappeared, leaving Faith there – nullified. It shouldn't feel weird. Buffy had hugged her like a million times.

But that was a long time ago. Faith had changed. She was a Slayer now. Just the thought brought on a small smile. She was a Slayer. A real one, not just a Potential. Maybe that's why it felt weird when Buffy hugged her. Buffy hugged Faith – the friend, but Faith was now Faith – the slayer.

Faith scoffed at her own stupid logic. She might've changed and all, but Buffy was still her best friend. It's not like there was a big competition. She probably felt all weird, because it had been a long time since someone had hugged her like that. Like... one and a half years.

Much happier with the explanation now, Faith surveyed as the scenery changed. She walked through the old playground and hoped she'd remember the dream in the morning. Truth be told, she was sure she would. She had never forgotten one with Buffy in it.

Buffy was back. The thought was surprisingly comforting. It had been a while and Faith really had missed her. She was someone to complain to or someone to rant to. Someone who managed to calm her down and make her laugh. She really needed someone like that, but frankly the people around her in Boston... most of them weren't very brain-y. As in they had no brains whatsoever.

Shaking her head, Faith sat down on the swings and let her mind wonder.  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

"What?" Buffy moaned, her eyes fluttering open. She was pretty much ready to throttle the person who had waked her up. 

"Hey, get up!" Dawn poked her again.

"Stop that!" the older of the two groaned. "Go away," she mumbled into her pillow.

"Get up!" Dawn said with a bit more force, "We have to go to school. Now!"

"I'm up. I'm up," Buffy sat up slowly, "Stop yelling, you're making me deaf."

"I'm not even raising my voice," Dawn rolled her eyes. "Besides, weren't you supposed to go early for the cheering practise?"

Moment of silence.

"DAMN!"

"BUFFY?"

"I said Dawn!" Buffy hollered to her mother. She quickly started to rummage through her stuff. She needed to get dressed and run. Kelly was going to murder her for being late.

As Dawn left the room, Buffy gathered her stuff, had the quickest shower possible, got dressed and was out of the door faster than lightning.

"Summers, you're late," Kelly Parkinson, the captain of the cheerleaders, said, tapping her foot.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry," the blonde answered, dropping her stuff on the ground.

"You better not make this is habit. It's not every day we take in a freshman. You better not be a mistake I made."

"I'm not," Buffy assured her. "So where do you want me?"

It was almost thirty minutes later in Math, when Buffy glanced out of the window and almost shrieked. There stood Merrick, her Watcher, waving at her merrily as he chewed on a hamburger.

"Just making sure you're okay," he mouthed, pretty much standing by the window, grinning at her widely when nobody noticed.

Buffy scooted away from the glass with her chair, until she was almost side by side with Jeremy. The guy grinned at her widely, before licking his lips. Horrified, Buffy inched her chair away, just to notice Merrick staring at her, his nose squashed against the glass.

Groaning, Buffy hid her face into her hands. She had so wished this had been a bad dream.

Her head snapped up. Faith, dream. Slayer thingy. How come she hadn't asked? Faith knew about that stuff. Or at least she seemed to know a while ago. Why hadn't she asked something? Why hadn't she tried to discuss it with her?

There was only one thing that popped into Buffy's mind. She needed that new brain. Like ASAP!  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – So, here you go. The second chapter. If you like it, let me know by reviewing. It kinda gives me the power to write. Okay, I'm going to do my homework now, but I love you and all that. Especially if you **read and review**!

Oh and I'd like to thank those who say I don't need suggestions, since I'm a good enough writer and all. I'm flattered really, but still, I have to ask – **Buffy/Angel or Buffy/Faith**? That's it. Really. No more weird questions... for now :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank You Note** : To all of you who have reviewed. This chapter is written thanks to your wonderful feedback :P

**Disclaimer: **Realized I haven't had one before, so here – I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't own Buffy (the vampire slayer), Faith (the other vampire slayer), Angel, (The vampire being slayed) etc. You get the point :P

**Q**: How can Buffy and Faith be Slayers at the same time?  
**A**: I skipped Kendra. She wasn't called. Did you notice how Vanessa died? If not, try reading that part again. That should explain it :)

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**Chapter 3**

Buffy almost dropped her tray.

_"No, not here too!"_ her mind screamed at her.

She quickly backed away, hurrying to the table by the window. It was the table farthest from the serving line. She was well aware that her friends joined her side a moment later.

"Hey, Buf, you okay?" Oliver, one of her closest friends, asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? Because I am. Fine I mean," her eyes flickered back towards the lunch ladies, "Fine, really."

"Um, right," Oliver took a bite from his pizza, trying to see the thing Buffy was looking at.

"Okay, guys," Kate Lewis, another of Buffy's friends sat down, "That guy, in the lunch lady's clothes, he's creeping me out. Like really creeping me out here."

"Yeah," Billy Fordham plopped down next to the brunette. "I think it's the same guy who I saw outside during Math."

"Actually," Oliver swallowed the mouthful food, before speaking, "I'm pretty sure I saw him in the schoolyard during recess. He was wearing these dorky glasses and reading a paper – get this, it was upside down."

"Ooh," Kate grinned into her orange juice. "Maybe he's a stalker, after one of us."

Buffy coughed into her own juice. Her friends gave her a glance.

"You okay?" Oliver, sitting the closest to her and all, asked.

"Fine," the blonde nodded, glancing at the man, who was grinning sheepishly at the students in the line, serving them mashed potatoes and macaronis together, while staring at Buffy almost every spare second he had. She shuddered.

"Okay, Buf," Oliver frowned, "First the spazzing, then spacing out constantly and now shuddering. Are you sick or something?"

"Oh, don't get yourself something that last long," Kate warned her, "My sister said that Kelly was already whining about you this morning; you don't want to be kicked out or anything, do you?"

"No of course not," Buffy spoke, her eyes flickering over the man staring at her, "It's just that a lot is going on. I'm under stress, ya know?"

"Well, don't overwork," Oliver warned her, "Right guys?"

"Right, no overworking," Kate waggled her finger theatrically. Both she and Oliver glared at Billy.

"Hey, Ford, anything you want to say?"

"Kelly has wonderful legs," the boy muttered, obviously in dreamland. Kate scowled and hit him over the head.

She looked over the table and grinned at Buffy, "Guys and hormones, huh?"

Buffy returned the grin, aware that a pair of eyes was still fixated on her and unfortunately they did not belong to Kate.

XxXxXxXxXx

She added a bit of speed to her steps. It didn't work. The man followed her. Fuelled by anger, annoyance and extreme irritation, Buffy's eyes swept over the path in front of her. There was a large oak nearby. Deciding that had to do, Buffy wheeled around in a split second, grabbed the man by his shirt and pulled him behind the tree as fast as she could.

She was surprised how easy it was, but she had no time to dwell on that. Instead she stepped back and gave the man the angriest glare she could muster.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She hissed, after making sure nobody would notice them. "Can't you take a message? LEAVE.ME.ALONE!"

If Merrick was anyhow affected by her intimidations, he managed to hide it well, since he only folded his arms over his chest, looking at the blonde girl calmly. "I have to follow you and make sure you are safe."

"I don't need your help, really. Leave me alone," Buffy took in a deep breath to calm her nerves, which were reaching their limits now.

"Listen, until you haven't begun your training, it is my duty to make sure you are guarded until you do start," Merrick spoke, still all calm.

Buffy was seriously disturbed by him. "Don't you get it? I do not want to be a Slayer. I'm not a Slayer. I... I cannot be a Slayer! So, just, go away! If I ignore you, I can pretend this never happened. So let a girl and her denial be!"

"I can't do that," the man spoke slowly.

"Yes you can. You just put one foot in front of the other and head that way," Buffy gestured to the farthest point away.

She looked at the man in front of her. He was rather big boned, like a lot of people say nowadays. He had those tiny moustaches and his hairline had receded a bit. Possibly because of the line of work he was in. He was dressed in this ridiculous coat and bowler hat.

"You are the..." he spoke.

"No, no don't say that. Don't say that I'm the Slayer or the Chosen One or the one with a great destiny. I don't have a destiny, I'm rather destiny free."

"Buffy..."

"No. Just leave me alone. I'm not your girl. Maybe you should find someone else. I'm really not into the whole – let's give vampires personal piercings thing," the blonde bit her lip. "You have the wrong girl. I'm not your "Chosen One."

The man laughed. Buffy scowled. This was serious. This, this was completely serious. Like utterly and deeply serious. And yet, he was laughing like a lunatic.

"What?!?" She snapped, finally unable to take it.

"You haven't understood yet," he shook his head. "Soon you will."

Then he started walking away.

Butt after a few metres he stopped suddenly and glanced over his shoulder. "Denying won't solve anything, Buffy. The Slayer is who you are. When you accept it... Maybe you could even control your powers."

Buffy's mind froze. How did he know that her senses had been failing her? Wait, of course he'd know. He had been following her around the whole day. He probably was there to see how Buffy failed to hear anything in Math for like three minutes and he probably saw how she had covered her ears when the teacher had talked, because the sound was plainly too loud.

He had also been there in the cafeteria, when her strength had started to play tricks on her, hence the broken tray and the table.

Buffy was about to yell at him for the whole mess her life was becoming because of him, when she noticed he was gone. He had disappeared, just like that. When she actually wanted him around, he went whole 'poof' on her.

Furious, she started to walk towards her house.

_"Why did he even try to keep me 'safe' in a cafeteria?" _her mind angrily wondered as she moved, _"The only thing remotely dangerous there is the mystery meat surprise."_

She kicked a rock lying on the pathway and surveyed with satisfaction as it travelled a long distance. She frowned. A distance a bit too long for it to be completely normal.

Enraged, Buffy stomped into her house and straight up into her room, ignoring her mother's greeting. She was sure she spoke something else, but she didn't hear her. Not even with her 'super-hearing' since she was way too busy trying to block out the entire world.

Funny how the Earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to.

Buffy threw herself onto her bed. Why was life so darn unfair? Was it something she did. Bad karma perhaps. Or maybe she broke a mirror or something... more like a hundred of them. Maybe she went completely crazy in a mirror shop and then forgot all about it.

"Buffy?"

The blonde raised her head, thoroughly pissed about well, everything. "Yeah?"

"What's with the tone, young lady," her mother reprimanded her. "I just wanted to ask if you wanted dinner?"

"No thanks," Buffy mumbled, "I just had cheerleading practice. Unhealthy to eat after that."

"Okay then," her mother replied, "Have you done your homework?"

"I'll get right on it," Buffy waved her hand impatiently. Her mother, taking the teenager's hint, just shook her head and left. She had dealt with teenagers and their problems before after all.

Time went past unnoticed. Buffy managed to do about a quarter of her homework and be angry at the Powers to Be (or the Whackos to be, like she had started to call them) all the free time during which she wasn't doing anything.

Which meant she was angry... a lot.

After that much of work from Buffy's part, it was kind of logical for her to fall asleep. She did just that, praying for the world that Merrick didn't find a way to haunt her there.

He didn't, but someone else did.

Buffy was dreaming of taking some kind of a stupid test she couldn't even read. She glanced at the clock. She had time. Plenty of time, like 40 minutes to go. She'd make it.

She glanced at the clock again. What? 1 minute to go?

She started to scribble. Anything. She was sure the bell was going to ring any second now and she could feel the teacher stopping by her desk, probably to take away her paper, so she urged her hand to move faster, making crosses everywhere she could.

"Uh, B, I don't think you'll pass," A rather familiar face leant over her shoulder to see what she had been writing.

"Faith?" she looked up in surprise. The rest of the room seemed frozen, but the brunette just grinned.

"Yup, here I am, crashing your... party," she looked around. "Actually, ya know what. Without me, you're dreams are duller than Di's clothes."

Buffy let her eyes slid over the girl in front of her. Her clothes to be more accurate. A tiny red top and black leather pants. She was wearing a silver cross around her neck. "Wow, I don't care what my mind says, you're clothes really don't make you look like a ..." the blonde smirked when Faith punched ehr shoulder gently.

"Okay, you finish that one and I'll have to really hurt ya," Faith walked out of the classroom with Buffy right after her. The latter had figured out that this was after all just a dream and not reality. Hence her newfound indifference towards the test.

"You couldn't take me on," Buffy gave her the best intimating look she got. But then she remembered that it had been Faith who had taught her the look in the first place, so she stopped trying. Faith was a tough nut to crack.

"I could so take ya on, twinkie," the brunette used the silly nickname she had given Buffy a long time ago. "I'm the kickass Slayer now."

She grinned, but it disappeared completely, when Buffy next to her stopped completely, staring at her with wide eyes. "No, no, no," she muttered, shaking her head violently. "Not you too. You're not even Faith are you? You're just someone I made up to torture my sub consciousness in my sleep too."

Not even waiting for her friend's reaction, she walked through the school's completely empty hallways. "Can't I escape this just for a while? Just while I slept? But nooo! Of course not, it's the 'lets all drive Buffy crazy day! Or a week even! Maybe...'"

She would've proceeded to rant for a good while, hadn't a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned around to see Faith quirking an eyebrow at her, looking both confused and concerned.

"B, you alright?" she waited for an answer. When it didn't come fast enough, she added, "I didn't mean to give you the creeps or anything. I mean you took the 'news' so well when we were younger and I really thought you believed me. Ya know?"

"Shit, B, talk to me here. Now I'm getting the creeps." Faith thought about shaking the blonde, but quickly thought against it. After all, she hadn't yet completely mastered the whole strength thing.

"B? Buffy?" Faith snapped her fingers, when the blonde just kept frowning at her. "B!!!"

"AH!" Buffy covered her ears, groaning. "Don't, don't ever do that." She shuddered. "Do you want me to go deaf or something?"

"First of, welcome back to the world of livin'," Faith spoke, "And secondly, I didn't even yell that loud."

"Yeah, I guess," Buffy rubbed her ear, "I'm just awfully... awful lately."

"Wow, care to vague that up for me?" Faith rolled her eyes, but in a playful manner.

Buffy shook her head. "I'm not even processing this yet. When I finally can make any sense of all this, I'll let you know, but for now, let me wallow in my misery."

"Sounds fun," Faith nodded, "But you know, without any actual fun." She grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the school doors.

"First we find a bit more tolerable environment and then you can 'wallow' with me listening in of course." The brunette stopped dragging the reluctant blonde, when they reached a large yew tree. Buffy had never seen the place before, but Faith seemed to know the tree like a good buddy, since before Buffy could even blink, she was perched on one of the branches.

"You comin' up or stayin' down?"

After a moment of consideration, Buffy ended up sitting on a large branch a tiny bit higher than Faith.

"Speak." Faith urged her. "Come on, if I wake up, I'm going to be all sore from the workout and I do not want to wake up. Really. So please, keep good ol' me occupied."

Buffy leaned against the tree trunk. "My dad's coming to visit soon."

While Faith was almost sure that wasn't the reason why Buffy was so on edge, she just nodded. "You think there's going to be issues between your parentals?"

Buffy shrugged. "I barely see him. Twice a year maybe and then an occasional gift for Christmas or Birthday." She snorted. "He got me perfume this year."

"Well, perfume isn't too..."

"That smelled like raspberries."

"Ouch," Faith scowled.

"Yeah," Buffy sighed, smiling slightly at the look on Faith's face, "I guess he didn't notice the time Mum took me to emergency room because of my allergy and deep wanting to barf every time someone smelling anything like raspberries came near me."

Faith nodded, as she let her feet tangle over the branch's side. "And... Anything else important going on in your life? Since we haven't spoken in such a long time and all..."

She was fishing ruthlessly and they both knew it.

"I joined the cheerleaders," Buffy offered. The look on Faith face told her she would've been better off telling her about the Slaying.

"A cheerleader? A cheerleader?" Faith barked in laughter. "Why, I would've never expected you to do that. But ya are all blonde and tiny and... perky."

That sent Faith into another round of laughter, as Buffy found herself reddening. "I like to dance!"

"Yeah, me too," Faith managed to get out between laughing, "But I do it in clubs, with my friends, in normal clothes... Not in front of the school in fucking skimpy skirts, waving around pompoms like a raving lunatic." 

"You should stop laughing or you might fall off the tree," the blonde frowned at her. Then a slight smirk tugged at her lips. "Not that it'd be too bad..."

"Hey!" Faith snorted for the last time. For now anyways. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think ya wanted me to get hurt."

"Of course not," Buffy faked being surprised. Faith grinned at her, before climbing onto the branch her friend was on.

"Listen, I know it's been a long time and all that shit, but you can talk to me, ya know?" she bit her lip, "I'm not all touchy-feely or stuff like that, but I can listen. I'm a pretty fucking good listener actually."

"I can't," Buffy looked at her. They were now sitting side by side, so she lowered her voice slightly, when adding, "I don't even know where to start really. This is scaring the hell out of me, Faith. I'm, I'm too young for this crap."

The other girl raised an amused eyebrow. "Care to elaborate, B? I promise, I won't say a word before you finish."She mimicked locking her lips with a zipper. Buffy had to at least smile at her antics. She gave her a bit of courage. But right now, she felt like she needed a lot more than a bit to deal. Telling Faith meant she had to tell herself too and well, actually admit this all was happening.

Taking a look at Faith's expecting expression, she sighed.

Better Faith than that Merrick, who would, no doubt, be all smug if she went to talk to him. So she let it all out.

So told her about the dreams she had. She told her about Merrick and the vampire dusting she had witnessed. She told her about her senses going all insane on her and she told her about the crazy day at school... basically, she told her about everything Slayer related.

When she finally finished, Faith was staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Faith?" Buffy spoke tentatively, "You can say something now. Anything?"

The other girl blinked. Then she scratched her head and said the first thing entering her mind. "Fuck."

"You're mad?" Buffy asked, half expecting her to be.

"What? Why? No!" Faith rapidly added, "Just... Wow."

"You know, wow isn't something I'd describe it as," Buffy sighed, feeling the other girl inch closer rather than seeing it.

"What's wrong?" Faith whispered. Unable to stop herself, the blonde told her the real reason behind her confusion.

"I don't know who I am." Her voice was so small, that if there would've been wind, the sound could've gotten lost. But it was their dream and there was absolutely no wind there. So Faith heard her just fine, as she replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Faith had pretty much expressed her outrage in that one sentence. "You're Buffy Summers, B for short – the girl who pummelled me with a pink plastic shovel in a dream. The girl who hates raspberries more than anything. The cheerleading blonde," Buffy smirked slightly at that, "You're still you, just... just now you're also a Slayer."

"Just like me, which is weird, since Di was all about how I'm the only one blah-blah-blah, but if it's you B, I'm willing to share. The two of us, the Chosen Two instead of the Chosen One... I could work with that. Unless it comes out Di was lying like hell and there are actually Slayers in schools, post offices, libraries and every other evil place alike. 'Cause that'd take away the special fuzzy feeling, ya know?"

Buffy turned towards her and laughed. A real heartfelt laugh. When she finally stopped, she nodded.

"You're right."

"You know I am," Faith winked smugly.

"I am a Slayer," as soon as the words left Buffy's mouth, she knew that they were true. Maybe, just maybe, everyone needed a destiny after all.

She turned to give Faith a hug, trying not to fall off the branch while doing so. But she had barely touched her, when a jolt went through her. She felt everything - Warmth, excitement, strength, trust and A LOT of other stuff. But as she jerked away from Faith in surprise, ending the direct contact, she fell. She felt herself falling off the branch and she half expected herself to collide with the ground or at least a branch.

It never happened. Suddenly she was sitting upright in her bed, gasping slightly. The alarm clock was ringing and she hit it, turning it off efficiently. At least she hadn't broken it.

As she climbed out of the bed, she couldn't help but remember the feeling she had gotten when she had touched Faith. What had it been? Just even thinking about it made her feel a really, really distant tingle near her neck. Something was up. And with her recent record of surprises, she'd rather not know what it was.

She might've not known what had happened, but that one touch after her acceptance of being a Slayer made a lot of difference. The Slayers' Bond had been invoked and while it was not nearly as strong as it could be, it was still a great start.

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** XxXxXxXxXx**

A/N – Okay, kind of a slow chapter this one, but you all wanted it. Besides I needed to fill up the void between their childhoods and slayerhoods.

Love you all. Please Review, since I get way more motivated when the review count goes up. Got to love those little blue numbers there!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** – I'm grateful for all the reviews. This Chapter is dedicated to wizdmgoddess, kool-aidrocks2008, kenyon87, sabina123, pay-day1999, Empress'd, missingviolet and is only written thanks to their wonderful feedback to chapter 3!

**Chapter 4**

"Faith?"

Buffy walked through the park. She knew Faith had to be here somewhere. Why else would a park suddenly appear outside her window? Their dreams had meshed again and Buffy just wanted to find the other girl.

But the park was huge! She moved around for a bit, calling out her name, when she noticed a yew that seemed vaguely familiar.

She approached it slowly, hearing some weird noises. When she finally glanced behind it, her eyes went as large as saucers. There was Faith, being attacked by the two ugliest things she had ever seen.

The bigger of the two suddenly lunged at the brunette and Buffy bit back a scream as the girl fought back unsuccessfully and thus ended up being held by the larger one, while the smaller headed towards her, pulling out an axe out of nowhere.

Buffy had to remind herself that it was a dream, but it didn't work. As soon as the smaller raised its axe, Buffy had hit him to the chest. She was surprised when he went flying.

A dream. Right. Remember that.

Faith blinked. "Buffy?" She whispered. Buffy nodded. It took a moment for Faith to realize something.

She glanced over her shoulder, where the big ugly green beast stood and breathed raggedly, his one hand still around Faith's neck.

"So this is a dream?" She asked, frowning.

Buffy gave her a 'duh' look.

"Fuck, and here I was, thinking I was getting my ass kicked," Faith suddenly moved her elbow back, hitting the monster, who groaned in pain. She then threw him over her shoulder, onto the ground and drove him into his own axe.

As she watched the demon goo disappear, she looked up to see Buffy grinning at her.

"What?" She asked, after Buffy hadn't explained the look, but only stared at her with the same expression.

"Nothing," the blonde climbed up to her branch that she had perched on during last three nights. She once again felt the same tiny tingle she felt every time Faith brushed against her. It was so tiny that neither of them even noticed it existence. But it was still there.

Faith climbed onto the branch near Buffy's and when she did, she could've sworn she heard Buffy humming – "Macho, macho man..."

When she turned to look at the blonde, she was staring off to the distance. When she looked at Faith, there was amusement in her eyes, as she asked,

"So, you dream of hot guys like that often?"

She grinned, when Faith snorted, almost losing her balance.

"Yeah, actually when I heard the grunting, I kind of expected to find you... otherwise occupied," Buffy continued, "You know, like yesterday for example."

Faith groaned, "You're never going to forget that are you?"

"Oh no," Buffy shook her head. "This is a story I'll tell my grandchildren. How their always hot looking grandmother walked onto her best friend smooching with..."

"B!" Faith exclaimed. "What do I have to do to make you drop the subject? Or make you forget it? Completely wipe it from your mind?"

"Ah, that could never happen. I'm going to keep that as an extreme blackmail material," Buffy laughed at the memory. "You know, Faithy, I never thought you were the one to dream about kissing movie stars."

"IT WAS A DREAM!" Faith yelled into her hands, into which she had hid her face. "I don't wanna talk about it, ever. I'll get some fucking traumas from this."

"You get traumas? Think about what I had to see," Buffy shook her head, "I'm scarred for life. Really, I'll never be able to look his movies in the same way again..."

"Twinkie, please. Spare me?" Faith asked, getting the pleading look on. She absolutely never did that to anyone other than Buffy, but well with her it was excusable. She was pure evil and pleading was often the only thing that got Faith out of some deep hole she usually dug for herself.

The blonde giggled. "I'll drop it. For now," she added, when Faith sighed in relief. "But one day..."

"I talked to Di," Faith hurriedly interrupted. "I figured since you were so fucking serious on avoiding your own Watcher, I could dig up some scoops from mine."

"Well?"

"We were both right for starters. There can only be one Slayer," Faith rolled her eyes, "Something's up with that. Di is dead set on how there cannot be more than one Slayer, yet there are at least two. So it's either she forgot that she had been informed there was another one, or the lovable Powers that Suck, just forgot to mention that titbit to anyone."

"I could ask if Merrick knew anything, but," Buffy scowled, "Do you know what he did today? He wore a frigging fake nose! You know the plastic stuff you get from joke shops? Comes with big glasses? He wore them to school and then followed me! My friends are sure to figure out soon!"

"I think he's playin' ya, B," Faith glanced at Buffy, "Ya know. The whole, I'll embarrass you until you fold and let me train you to be a Slayer and all."

"For all he knows, I am still set on the fact that vampires don't exist and that I'm not a Slayer," Buffy wrinkled her nose, before grinning. "I did what you told me to. I now officially possess holy water and several crosses, just in case. I even tried lifting weights, now that my powers are somehow stabilized."

"And?" Faith leaned against the tree trunk, bringing her knees towards her chest.

"Didn't go over 50 kilos," she shrugged. "I didn't want anyone to walk in on me or something, but I managed to lift it like 30 times before my hands started to hurt."

"Seriously? 30 times?" Faith grinned. "That's great. So have you dusted some vamps yet? I'm going to get another round today. The one last night was wicked cool, so I can't wait. Can you believe it, after that long year of just reading some useless books, I get to play the game?"

"No, I haven't 'dusted any vamps'," Buffy frowned. "Do I really want to try? I mean me, alone, in a dark graveyard..."

Faith too frowned. "Right, not a good idea without backup at start."

"So anything else you managed to get from your... Watcher?" Buffy got herself more comfortable, leaning against a smaller branch.

"Ya know, with all the questions I asked, she was almost going to cry, because I was so 'thirsty for knowledge finally'," Faith sniggered. "But yeah, she told me loads of stuff. Like how a Slayer can't control her powers until she accepts that she's a Slayer, how her powers will develop when she gets more experience. Oh and if you get a whole tingly feeling that makes the hair on your neck rise, then there's a vamp nearby. That seemed to be an important thing."

She bit her lip in concentration. "You know about vamps right?"

"A bit," Buffy frowned. "They are dead, bite people and are all around creepy."

"Ya, that's why hot chicks like us go around slaying them," Faith nodded, "But, there's other stuff. Like - a vampire can't come into your house unless you invite them. So don't. Invite 'em in, I mean. They die when they come to contact with sunlight. The smell of garlic actually does scare them slightly, but not a lot, so don't expect to be safe just because of that smelly thing."

"I feel like I should be taking notes," Buffy spoke, shaking her head.

"Actually, I feel like you should give a chance to that Merrick guy," at Buffy's surprised look, she shrugged. "Hey, ya know it serious, when dark and twisty over here becomes the voice of reason."

"You're not dark and twisty," Buffy protested slightly. Faith shrugged.

"Not an issue here. Just, maybe you should train with him. You could be in danger if ya don't and I personally like you all alive-y."

"I feel like I'm going to lose a battle if I give in and train with him," Buffy frowned. "He's been all smug every time I glare at him and now this..."

"Well, don't let him win then. Do this on your terms. Make him believe it's your battle."

"Okay, you're right. Things really are serious, huh? You making sense and all," Buffy teased, her mood lifting slightly. She had to admit, that she too had thought of the idea, but hadn't been to keen to test it out.

"So...B," Faith grinned. "Want to spar?"

**XxXxXxXxXx**

"Did he squirm?" Faith asked, turning on her skates. "Wooaahh."

"Balance might not be your thing, Faithy," Buffy grinned, gliding past her with grace. "And he squirmed. But he still gets to train me like he's been wanting to, so it's a win-win situation."

Faith struggled to keep balance. "Why am I doing this again?" she yelled at Buffy.

"To show me you're good at everything," the blonde laughed, turning around without a hitch. "But I don't think you can do it."

"Hey, I do not skate," Faith said, puffing out her chest indifferently and grabbing onto the railing for balance a moment later.

"Yeah, I can see that," Buffy nodded. "But you chose to intrude my dream, so live with it."

"I chose to come here," the brunette agreed, "But I did not agree with these fucking things on my feet! Can I take them off now?"

"No, you made me spar since I was technically in your dream and now I'm making you skate. As they say, it's all fair in love and dreams."

Faith groaned, before pulling herself up, so she was now pretty much sitting on the railing, her feet tangling mere inches above the ice.

"Jeez, B, I knew you liked this, but wow, you're actually kicking ass on the ice here," she spoke. Buffy slid next to her and stopped, standing right in front of her.

"Yeah, when I was little I used to do it all the time. Dad took me to shows and stuff..." Buffy's eyes glazed over slightly, as she reminisced the old times.

"Hey, Earth to B," Faith hopped down from the railing and clutched onto the blonde slightly to gain her footing. "You okay?"

"Ah? Oh. Yeah. Just remembering stuff, you know," Buffy smiled slightly. "So, want to learn how to skate?"

"Oh no. I don't skate. B, let go of my hand. B, let go. I'm serious!** B!!!**"  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

"You are getting better," Buffy spoke, dodging the kick coming to her way.

"I'm getting better?" Faith barked with laughter, "You're the one whose training is going all slow-mo." She jumped away to avoid the series of punches.

"Not.all.of.us.live.with.their.Watchers," Buffy lunged and managed to land a few good punches, before Faith started to respond with her own.

As Buffy got hit and went sprawling to the floor all of the sudden, Faith's eyes widened.

"B, you conscious?" Faith frowned. She and Buffy had sparred a lot and not once had Buffy been knocked out or something. When she got hit hard, she just recoiled and hit Faith a bit harder in return.

"Hey? You five-by-five?"

"B?"

"Come on, this isn't..." Faith reached down to see if Buffy was okay, when suddenly someone grabbed her arm. A moment later, she was pinned down, with Buffy grinning down at her.

"That's three to two, Buffy wins!"

She grinned at the pissed off Faith, who was cursing.

"First, never let your enemy trick you, Faithy," Buffy shook her head mockingly. "Secondly, it's a dream. I don't think I'm supposed to be conscious."

Faith tried to get away from Buffy, who had her pinned under her. Finally she huffed, "Fine, ya win this once, B. Just once. But I'll be back for a rematch!"

"I'm hoping you do," Buffy got up, offering a hand to Faith who grabbed it, hauling herself up.

"Got to love the dreamy matches," she grinned, the loss soon forgotten. "No soreness in the mornings."

Buffy grinned too as the two of them plopped down onto the grass. "Yeah and we get to practise our techniques on someone who doesn't smell like a rotting corpse. Oh, and you know what, guys should definitely piss you off more often."

"Hey!" Faith exclaimed, nudging her blonde friend. Buffy just chuckled.

"Really, Faithy, you had some serious rage in there. You gave me a run for my money today."

"Hah, I would've won if someone, no names mentioned, hadn't played dirtier than Michael Jackson himself," Faith huffed.

"Okay, I'm choosing to ignore the comparison between myself and Michael Jackson, thank you very much," Buffy scowled. "And respond by saying – Nananananana!"

"Jeez, what are you, twelve?" Faith quirked an eyebrow, but showing off her dimples again anyways. Buffy just smiled and laid down onto the grass.

"You know, I keep wondering how we can spend the entire night like this and then feel all rested in the morning?" she spoke, staring at the cloudless sky.

"Dunno," Faith responded, "But I'm not complainin' here."

"Yeah me neither," Buffy replied.

It had been two months since their first meeting after a long break that lasted almost one and a half years. But now, the only night they hadn't met up was the night during which Buffy had gotten to bed just a minute before four. Exactly a minute later Faith had been woken up by Diana, since a group of vampires were starting to move out.

During their shared dreams they talked, messed around a bit while playing games or something, sparred or even studied for their tests. The dreams now happened every night, just as they had in their childhood. And both of them loved every moment of it.

After all, who else could you talk about all - cute boys, stupid teachers, annoying Watchers and ugly demons? There aren't so many people actually.

"Feel that?" Buffy whispered quietly, tilting her head to look at Faith.

"Ya, the world is ending, B," Faith chuckled softly, as the world around them started to fade. "See ya tonight?"

"It's a date."

Then the world disappeared completely and two very different girls, who were so much alike at the same time, woke up simultaneously, both groaning as they understood it was Saturday and that their Watchers were... well watching them. Buffy's from the window, as he knocked on it gently and Faith's was perched on the girl's bed shaking her.

"I hate you," they both muttered, but they got up anyways. Slaying waited for nobody.  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – Another chapter up so fast! You must love me, right? Right? RIGHT! So please, click the small button and review. I promise it won't take half as long as it took for me to finish this chapter.

**Thank you**. Really. I adore you for reviewing and showing me that somebody cared for my writings. 


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N** – Okay, I'm back from my granny's and ready to write! I do however apologize for not updating sooner. I would've but the last few days have been quite busy. Anyways, I know you don't want to hear ... umm... see, my lame excuses but the story.

So in return for the wonderful reviews and loyal readers, I present you...  
**  
Chapter 5  
**  
She was walking towards the creepy house suddenly feeling apprehensive about this. Her dreams had meshed with Buffy's. Not a big deal, since it happened every night. But something was wrong with this building or the dream overall. Something had to be wrong. She had never got any shivers while walking towards a house before and this was a friggin' dream!

Her concerns about something being wrong were confirmed, as she approached the shack. She could hear someone screaming. Barely a second after she heard the scream, she was running. She knew who the voice belonged to.

She completely ignored the chills she got when she entered the house and instead concentrated on the voice.

Upstairs.

She was on the move in a blink of an eye, heading towards the loud yells of her friend. She grabbed the first weapon like thing she could see, which was a leg of a rather rotten stool and started to enter the room.

But she didn't make it. Instead she froze in the doorway, petrified by the sight in front of her.

Buffy was screaming, but not because of a demon like Faith had thought. In front of the blonde was a man. Lying there, a large pool of blood around him. Faith didn't even have to see his face to know he was dead. She also recognized him from one of Buffy's dreams she had entered a while ago.

The dead man on the ground was Merrick – the blonde's watcher.

"Why?" She heard Buffy scream. Her voice was tired, raw even and she seemed so small, kneeling in the middle of the room, her fists curled as she shouted. As another yell was heard, Faith suddenly realized. She wasn't just yelling because of him.

She was also yelling at him.

"How could you? How could you leave me?" Buffy was sobbing, but the yells didn't crease, "You-you took the easy way and you left me all by myself. I hate – I hate you!"

A silence followed the statement that neither of the two occupants in the room believed. A few sniffles broke it.

The blonde was shaking slightly as she continued. "Please, I can't – I can't do this alone. I – just can't. I need you. Please. Please don't leave me."

Faith turned her head slightly, so she couldn't see her. A big part of her was sure she was intruding and that part told her to leave. To go and mind her own business.

A smaller part though told her to do something. Anything to comfort the girl in the room. After all, Buffy had been there for her every time she needed her. Deciding, Faith closed her eyes and concentrated.

Buffy just couldn't remove her eyes from the dead body in front of her. They night had been chaotic, no doubt about it, and not once had the reality of the situation reached her mind during it all. But here she couldn't escape the truth anymore.

Yes, she had killed Lothos, but it had been too late. Merrick didn't want to be turned. He didn't want to be forced to attack the Slayer, he himself had taught. He had raised his weapon, surprising everyone around him when aiming it at himself. And he had killed himself before Buffy could do anything to stop him.

His last words, 'You can do it, Buffy' and 'I'm so sorry,' left his mouth a split second before the metal pierced his skin and he dropped onto the ground, blood already oozing from the wound.

No matter how much Buffy tried, the image would never be erased from her mind. The bloodied body of the man lying in front of her didn't help. 

So she was slightly shocked as well as relieved when the body suddenly disappeared. The tears kept falling though and in her mind, she kept wishing, pleading for Merrick to come back. But she knew he wouldn't.

As the scene changed, Buffy found herself on grass instead of a wooden floor. There was no body, just a meadow and a big yew in the distance. She didn't have to guess who had made the dream change. There was only one person in the world able to do that and that person was already approaching.

The blonde turned her head, willing for the tears to stop.

Faith had never been a very compassionate person. She wasn't much into the hugging and comforting words just sounded hollow in her ears. Often she didn't even care enough to bother.

But this was different. Seeing Buffy like that – her body shaking slightly as she tried to repress her sobs, her eyes averted and her fists still firmly on her sides – it made her own heart clench painfully. The girl she had always admired for her strength to deal and her always bright optimism was on the verge of a breakdown.

And Faith didn't have a clue what to say. She had never been good with words. So she did something she was slightly better at – she got physical.

The first touch was hesitant and she was ready to pull back her hand as soon as Buffy reacted badly. She didn't. Instead she uncurled the fist Faith had put her hand over. Still not looking at the brunette, she whispered,

"He's gone. Faith, he's just – just gone."

"I know," the brunette murmured. Buffy looked at her and again Faith felt her own heart be twisted in a not-a-very-nice way. The despair, the sadness, the fear – it was all there in her eyes and Faith had never seen her friend so vulnerable.

Frowning, she gently whispered, "B?"

It was all she got to say, before the repressed sobs became full-on crying. Tears that had been relatively unshed before now started to stream down Buffy's cheeks.

Helplessly, Faith whispered again, "B..."

The blonde just shook her head, her right hand still clasped with Faith's.

Faith, still lacking any words that wouldn't sound stupid, just sat down close to her and placed her free hand around the other girl in what she hoped was a comforting manner. It seemed to be, because a few moments later, Buffy turned and wrapped her hands around Faith.

And then the blonde cried, while Faith just held her.

She had no idea how long they sat there, in their little embrace, with Buffy whimpering slightly against her neck every now and then and frankly Faith didn't give a damn.

Buffy had calmed down considerably and soon enough she begun to talk. By telling Faith what had happened, she made herself relive every horrible thing that happened that night, but in return she got to lessen the burden on her shoulders slightly.

"You're the only one who understands," The blonde mumbled. They were now sitting side by side, with their hands still clasped. "I can't talk to mum... or anyone... because for all they know, I have never met Merrick – never known him – never talked to him – never had British Traditional Slayer Tea Parties with him while he was researching, never..."

She trailed off as she looked at Faith. She then chuckled sadly. "You know, your blouse is pretty much soaked now. Sorry 'bout that," the last part was said so quietly, that Faith almost didn't hear her, Slayer hearing or not.

"It's okay," the brunette replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "Guys keep telling me that a wet t-shirt is a good look for me."

Buffy smiled weakly and leaned a bit more against her. "Faith, what's going to happen to me?"

Her voice was small and she sounded sincerely concerned and sad; like her existence had once again been tagged with a big red question mark.

"I don't know," Faith replied earnestly, "But, B, I'm always here, ya know? You can always count on me and if stuff starts to suck too much, I'll be there."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Faith answered. Buffy squeezed her hand slightly, before wondering out loud,

"What'd I do without..."

Buffy suddenly blurred.

She got a panicked expression on her face. "Faith?"

"B, you gotta wake up," Faith answered, understanding why the blonde's tone was slightly reluctant. Out there, nobody let her grieve. Merrick might've not been her best friend, but he was a friend nevertheless and Buffy had a right to mourn.

But how would she demand it if nobody even knew she was connected to Merrick in any way.

The blonde nodded miserable. "I know. But you'll be here right? Tonight I mean?"

"Nothing could stop me, B," Faith spoke. The blonde nodded. A moment later she disappeared.

Yes, Faith was there the next night. She might've had to argue with her Watcher to skip the all-nighter Diana had planned, but she was there, even before Buffy herself was, just to let her talk. She learnt a lot more about Merrick than she would ever need to know, but she didn't care.

Buffy needed to talk and she let her.

Soon, the blonde started to forget. Not Merrick, since she never could do that, but some of the pain she felt because of the loss of her Watcher and her friend.

So in no time Faith was once again being teased about her ways with guys and the brunette once again had been given a reason to fling pillows at the blonde.

Things were starting to get normal.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

"This is not normal. This cannot be normal," Faith watched Buffy pace back and forth, while rubbing her eyes slightly.

"This isn't normal, right?" Buffy glanced at her best friend, who was lying on Buffy's bed, her face propped up on her hands as she watched her.

"B," the other girl started pacifistically.

"Oh no, Faith, not you too," Buffy groaned. "Don't tell me this is normal."

The brunette propped herself up onto her elbow. "Fine, I won't. But you have to consider the fact that a lot of people need the Slayer to do all kinds of world-saving-stuff for 'em. I get it – The Council is really stupid and all secretive, especially since they've somehow forgotten to inform Di that there's two of us, but maybe having a new Watcher isn't that bad."

"Don't try to make sense with me," the blonde shook her head, still pacing. "I am in a very un-sensible mood."

"First I move to this place in the middle of nowhere. Then I go to this school, that has this whacko principal and really weird kids..."

"B..."

"No, let me rant," Buffy spoke. Faith smirked, shrugged and placed her head on her hands. Buffy nodded thankfully and continued. "Then this librarian pops out with this book, knowing I'm the Slayer. After that people just start finding out. I mean I've been the Slayer for a while now and when Merrick was there, nobody ever found out! Now it seems like I'm wearing a damn neon sign!"

Buffy didn't even pause after mentioning Merrick. Instead she kept talking. "And that Giles guy, is not normal either! He always seems to know what I'm thinking and I feel like he's, he's manipulating me! That's it! That's how he knew I'll be onboard with the vampire slaying... Or maybe he just knew I was itching to kill someone to get rid of the tension of the first day in school. Or maybe I'm just making excuses so I could finally get someone who'd understand what I'm going through."

Faith coughed. Buffy stopped for a long enough moment to grin at her. "You are an exception. You know that. You're like my extremely understanding best friend."

"Too true," Faith grinned, her dimples making an appearance, as she once again got into her 'listening pose'.

"Anyways, I mean I did co-operate and I would do so in the future too, but I wanted a normal amount of vampires. Like in L.A. But instead I get these super weirdoes and a hellmouth. I do not want a hellmouth. I want a healthy dose of vampires per day and that's it."

"Plus Giles keeps hinting that I'm behind on training. Which I'm not. I mean, I worked out during the vacation... By the way, I know that the only reason mom took us there was because she wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy."

"Better a nice vacation than a mental institution," Faith piped up. Buffy was inclined to agree.

"But during that, I still worked out. Mom was okay with me running and training and stuff. Besides I've been practising with you. My techniques are better than ever and my reactions are way faster. Right?"

"Right," Faith put a pillow under her hands, feeling this might take a while.

"But he keeps treating me like I was made a Slayer yesterday. Which is annoying."

"Mm... Makes sense, yeah."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "I'm awful aren't I?"

Faith tilted her head slightly. "Whatever do you mean, B?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and plopped down next to her on the bed. "I've been over this before, haven't I?"

"Yeah, once... or twice... about everything and everyone... during the whole time..." Faith laughed when Buffy punched her shoulder.

"Nah, it's alright," she spoke, still smiling. "I do however know everything about Cordelia and her mean streak and Xander the group clown and that smart hacker girl... umm...

"Willow," Buffy helpfully added. "And you've made your point, so I'll shut up now. See this is me shutting up. About everything crazy going on in my life."

Faith nudged her leg with her own. "Don't be like that. C'mon, you still haven't figured out if you're okay with Giles, was it?"

"Yeah, Giles. I guess... I mean I'm not reluctant to kick some vampire butt or anything, but this is like a massive comeback. Stopping centuries old vampires from killing everyone and now having friends, who actually know what I'm doing at nights... Don't even think about saying anything," she warned when Faith opened her mouth, her dimples once again showing.

The brunette grinned and kept her joke to herself.

"I think I'm fine. A new Watcher... It's a big deal, yeah. But Merrick..." the blonde sighed. "It's been a while and I can handle it. I think so. Yeah. I can."

"Good for you, B," Faith sat up. "So Sunnydale, the real hell on Earth... Ya know, someone should seriously consider firing the guys who name these things."

Suddenly she grinned again.

"Speaking of guys... Spill, B, the ever-so-mysterious Angel... is he hot?"

"Totally," Buffy gushed before she could stop herself. The grin on Faith's face told her that her sudden interest in the man had been discovered.

"B has a total man-candy in sight again?" the brunette teased her. "See, I told you moving on from Billy-Bob wouldn't be very hard."

"Stop calling him Billy-Bob!" Buffy demanded, but the grin on her face said that she wasn't too unhappy with the nickname. 

"So the new guy. Dark, tall, gorgeous, mysterious... Saved your life... Is it just me or isn't there a single reason you shouldn't pursue him?"

"It's not as easy," Buffy protested. "It's not like I know his phone number or his address or anything actually. Besides, even if I did, I still think his whole cool attitude is irritating and..." she frowned slightly.

"What? When you're with him, it's hard to say anything cool or witty or anything at all, so you just have to go away..."

The pillow hitting her face stopped Faith for saying anything else. When she turned to face Buffy again, the blonde was looking slightly serious, though there was a smile on her face.

"Don't make fun of her. She's actually cool to be around," she defended her new friend. "And I can't believe you memorized that!"

"Selective memory, B," Faith threw the pillow back at her.

They sat there for a while, discussing the changes happening in Buffy's life and everything going on with Faith. As the morning came and their dream ended, they went on having normal lives. Well as normal as two Slayers can have their lives anyways.

But nights were the time they spent together. They talked about their days, they trained and they had fun. Yes, their nights were definitely filled with quality time.

Buffy got used to her life in Sunnydale rather quickly. Having friends to back her up with the slaying was a welcome change and when the battles she fought got more difficult she just fought slightly harder. She had Xander, Willow and Giles to back her up and Angel even, when the vampire chose to show up.

He being a vampire had easily filled a whole night of discussion between Faith and Buffy. But it was nothing, nothing compared to what happened when the prophecy was revealed.

That night was filled with unbelievably silly hopes that the prophecy didn't exist or wouldn't be fulfilled; useless plans that would never work in reality and reluctant acceptances over the fact that Buffy might face her death the next day.

It's needless to say that the next morning came unwanted to both girls.

"Faith, I don't know what to do. I know I have to try, but I really don't want to die."

"You're not going to die," Faith said for what had to be the hundredth time that night. "I swear to god, B, you are not going to die! B, you've got out some of the shittiest situations possible and you're gonna make it tomorrow. If I have to, I'll come over there personally to kick that vamp's pale ass!"

"Faith, no. You have your own demons to deal with. There's a reason why Kakistos has survived for like... forever. You have your issues, I have mine. The only thing we have to help us is hope."

Then the dream ended.  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – **Thanks for your time, people.** Be back soon, since I'm trying to **update soon**. See, someone reviewed and said if I thought I was awesome I had to update. Since I have an ego I need to keep up, I'm going to update as fast as I can! So in return, give me a **review or two.** Those blue numbers really keep a writer going!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N** – I'm updating this so fast, just because I feel awesome (Again) and because of the nice reviews. Thanks for those. Really.

**Q&A**

Q: Is this Buffy-centric?  
A:Definitely not, but I find Buffy's life easier to write, since I actually know what happened in her storyline. With Faith... I haven't read the Go Ask Malice and I wouldn't want to offend someone who has by getting all details just wrong.  
Q: Was Buffy going to a mental institution left out on a purpose?  
A: Yeah. I mean it would've been hard to keep up the normal Faith/Buffy connection, while the latter was stuck in a mental hospital.  
Q: Will Angel play a major role?  
A: Afraid so, but not in a way you might think. Just keep hanging in there. And review... Definitely.

But without further ado – I present you...

**Chapter 6  
**  
She was startled when the door closed with a bang. That would be Diana leaving for a conference in Los Angeles. But frankly that was not the issue Faith had difficulties solving.

It was noon and she just couldn't stop thinking about Buffy. Chances were last night was the last time she ever got to see her best friend and they had closed it with a line 'all we have is hope.'

What kind of a lame line is that? She had to make sure that it would not be the last thing she ever heard from the blonde. It couldn't be. It just... couldn't!

She groaned out loud, hiding her face into her hands. Something had to be done. Some kind of an intervention. But what could she do? She was like thousands of miles away from Sunnydale and Kakistos was running around like a fucking loony killing people. Or letting his minions do it for him. Whatever.

Still she couldn't just sit on her hands and behave like Diana had told her to. Her best friend could be dying tonight and here she was watching Woody the Woodpecker!

Faith rose with determination. A moment later she plopped back onto the couch. To be determinate, she needed a plan. Any plan would do. A few minutes later she rose again. It wasn't as dramatic as the first time, but her plan wasn't that good either.

She just had to do something.  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

Buffy was led through the sewers by a kid half her size. She had never felt more nervous and a tiny voice in the back of her mind wondered if the kid would carry her to the Master if she fainted.

But this was no time to freak. She had to remain strong. She had to stop the Master. She will stop the Master! Yeah... well, Buffy wished she could be as confident as that.

Following the boy through another passageway, she really wished she would've brought a sword or something to help her out should the crossbow fail her. Even though she had had some practise with Giles, and a lot of practice with Faith, she still kinda sucked. Besides, the shots might not be fast enough.

Not a good time to think about that, though. All she needed now was to be even more discouraged. So trying not to wonder about the ways she could die, she just kept walking.

Unknown to her a good distance away a splash was heard as someone dropped into the sewers.

Wearing a white tank top, jeans and a leather jacket, she wouldn't have stood out in the crowd hadn't it been for few other things. Her belt, which had three wooden stakes and a sword fastened to it and the giant crossbow she was holding in her hand.

She frowned, as she noticed that the sewer water was seeping into her sneakers. Quietly, but relatively fast, she begun to move, trusting her instincts to lead her to the Bad Ass of the sewers.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

The girl was not a happy camper now. It had nothing to do with the fact that she wasn't camping in the first place and everything to do with the fact that she was pursued by five vampires in the size of friggin' monster trucks!

This was like a hive. The closer she got to the centre, the more protective the bees became and the more of them appeared. Except of course the bees here had really sharp teeth, pale skin and tendency to drain people's blood.

One ash pile had been replaced by three at start. Then three more. Then another casualty or two and now these guys. She could take two, maybe even three of them at the same time, but her crossbow only had one shot left and she wasn't about to start hand-to-hand combat with the five of them at once.

So she did something she rarely did in battle. She retreated slowly. Okay, understatement of the year here. She ran for her life, since the five vampires didn't look very happy to see an intruder. She managed to hide herself, though she was afraid that they'd find her anyways. Then again, she wasn't bleeding, so the pale creepy guys had no way of smelling her.

Hoping for the best, she hid in the crevice holding her breath as the vampires whizzed past her. When they disappeared into a sewer tunnel nearby, she relaxed slightly, but never let her guard down. It was a rule she lived by and she'll be damned if she broke it.

She managed to get to the opening the five guards had blocked earlier. Suddenly the tingling she had felt before doubled. Cautiously, she wielded her one-shot crossbow and gripped the handle of her sword slightly, glancing into the weird room.

There were candles everywhere and she could see a small pool near the southern wall. She was about to enter, when she heard a loud grunt.

The tingly-meter that usually went off near the presence of a vampire did weird things now. Instead of making her feel cold, it actually gave her warmth. Then she got a wave of cold and then once again warmth. Weird.

Warily, she continued peeking down into the room. Then she spotted them. Near the northern wall stood the ugliest vampire she had ever seen. Since she was only seeing the back of him that was saying a lot. She noticed that there was a blonde girl in his clutches.

Her heart jumped. The tingling rose slightly, but she wasn't even noticing. There was no doubt about the girl. She knew who it was and she knew she had to help.

She was about to enter the room, when she heard them.

"THERE! GET HER!"

She let out a string of curse words. The charming gentlemen had found her. As the five vampires closed in, blocking most of the doorway again, she had to react quickly. She only had one arrow left. One. And there were five of them.

Licking her lips in the sign of nervousness, she made a decision. Her hand moved to her sword, while the other one held up the crossbow. 1...2...3... the opening came and she shot.

"You missed," one of the vampires snickered, baring its teeth.

"I never miss," she spoke, wielding her sword. Barely a split second later a loud scream could be heard. It came from the inside of the room that the five vampires had tried so hard to guard.

All five of them turned around in shock and horror, since their master had just been harmed by the sound of it. Having waited for that moment, she attacked. It was time to do some damage.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Buffy was struggling as much as she could, but everything seemed so useless. She could feel his mouth on her neck and a big part of her was so disgusted with it that she practically wished for him to get over with it.

Another part of her though wished for a miracle. It was that small naive part of her that still believed in tooth fairies and stuff like that. But now, that part of her seemed so tiny. Death was near. She could almost feel it.

The Master opened his mouth and Buffy squeezed her eyes shut. Then out of the blue the vampire behind her let out a piercing scream. His grip on Buffy loosened suddenly and the girl used the chance and scattered away from him as fast as possible. Surprised, she turned to see what had happened.

There was a large crude arrow jutting out from his chest. Unluckily for her it had missed the heart, but it seemed to cause a lot of pain anyways, since the Master was screaming in agony even many moments later. Buffy used the opportunity given to her. Her eyes swept over the room looking for a potential weapon faster than some people blink.

The answer came in the shape of a wooden torch holder by the wall. The Master was on his knees, struggling to pull out the arrow that was obviously causing him great pain. But every time the arrow moved even a bit the Master let out another scream of anguish.

Buffy's hand closed around the torch holder, while her eyes were firmly on the vampire. She snapped the wooden thing into two, dropping the dull part. The half she held onto was way larger than an average stake, but then again, you couldn't be overly careful with the Master.

She moved towards the figure slowly. The vampire stood up and raised his hand slowly, no doubt trying to use some of his weird magical mojo again. Luckily for Buffy he wasn't able to. Instead he let out another shriek and clutched his chest, his fain contorting in pain.

Buffy momentarily wondered what was with the arrow and where she could get some of those. But that moment was really short, since she had more pressing issues to deal with.

The Master finally begun to notice that there was a big chance that he was going to lose, since he unexpectedly yelled, "Boys! Come to greet our guest!" while doing his best trying not to double over in pain.

Buffy half expected dozens of vampires to come and attack her, since it was a commonly known fact that vampires didn't exactly play fair. For a moment both she and the Master looked towards the entrance to the cave.

"ARGHH!"Buffy blinked. By the sound of it, Master's 'boys' were too busy dealing with their own problems to come to his aid.

The look on the ancient vampire's face hinted that he too had realized it.

"This-cannot be. The prophecy – you should die.. I should – go – free," the Master gasped, as the Slayer closed in, looking menacing with the torch holder firmly in her hand.

He slowly started to comprehend that he wasn't going to win. So, still fighting the pain of the wound, he spoke. "Join me." He clutched the area near the arrow, obviously thinking about trying to pull it out again, "You could -You could rule the world –Slayer- Think about - It."

"Sorry, I have priorities," Buffy spoke, as she brought the huge stake down with a swish. There was one more shriek and then it was over. In a swish of dust, the Master disappeared, leaving behind just a skeleton. The blonde grinned, dropping her extra large stake. "And that's saving the world... again."

"No! The Master. The Master is dead!"

Faith looked as one of the two vampires remaining alive...or well... remaining mobile anyways, let out the horrified yell. So the big bad bastard either died from the holy water inside the arrow or Buffy kicked his bony ass. Either way, Faith had a reason to smirk and feel very happy when she brought her sword down in a hacking motion towards one of the vampires, while giving a kick to the other one, who then stumbled down the sewer pipe an right into the room below.

"Damn it," Faith cursed. She then jumped away from the vampire, who now begun to attack her with more anger than before. Sighing, Faith pulled out one of her stakes. Beheading this sumo-wrestling, fat-necked vampire could've become an issue.

In the meanwhile Buffy had just begun to move away, when a vampire came stumbling into the room. One hell of a big one. Like a massively big one.

"Woah," Buffy let out a quiet yet rather surprised yell, jumping away as the vampire charged at her, seemingly not very happy. Then again, who could blame him? Buffy had after all slayed his master with a torch holder.

Some kicking, punching and jumping later, the two girls almost simultaneously staked their respective opponents, turning them to two enormous piles of ashes.

Buffy relaxed and brought her hands down from the fighting stance. As she turned around she couldn't help but grin at the remains of the Master. Unluckily for him the big fat vampire had landed on his skeleton once during the fight. Now all there was left were lots of white dust piles and a few broken bone pieces here and there.

She let out a quiet victorious yell. It was over and she had survived. If it wasn't for the fact she was standing in a really creepy cave which probably had like dozens vampires surrounding it, she would've sung and danced or something.

The girl near the sewer pipe though heard the quiet shout and couldn't help but grin. She glanced at her watch. Making a decision, she stepped into the last pile of ashes and walked into the cave.

Buffy frowned as she realized something. The tingling in the back of her neck hadn't stopped. She had presumed that it was some kind of a twisted reaction to the Master, since it was slightly similar to the reaction she got around usual vampires, but the Master was dead, wasn't he?

She was forced to acknowledge that the feeling had been far too nice to be connected to that awful vampire anyways. But then what was the nice kind of tingling all about?

Slightly confused, she crouched down to pick up the arrow that had most likely saved her life. Before she was able to do anything else, she felt someone's eyes on her and sooner than she could look up, an amused voice was heard.

"Who needs hope to help you when you have me?"

Buffy's heart stopped beating for a moment. It couldn't be. Could it? Was she sleeping? No, she couldn't be sleeping. Could she?

She turned around slowly, managing to see a girl jump down from the sewer pipe. The girl landed on her feet, her brown hair falling in front of her eyes slightly as she beamed at the blonde. "Hey ya, B."

Buffy was rendered completely speechless in what had to be the first time in a ... while. She just blinked as Faith stepped closer, winking as she let her eyes scroll over the blonde.

"Wow, wicked nice dress." Buffy actually managed a weak smile. What the hell was wrong with her? This was Faith. Her best friend in the whole world! The girl who knew almost everything about her!

And yet here Buffy stood, unable to say anything else other the few incoherent words. Sometimes she hated her brain. Like really hated it. Make up something smart now!

Finally she managed it. "Thanks."

She shook her head. What the hell was wrong with her? Resisting the wanting to hit herself over her head, she spoke, slowly as to not babble. She tended to babble when she got nervous. She personally blamed Willow. Damn she and her infectious babbling.

"You&rsquoBre here?" Yes, she spoke slowly and not much at all. Good for her. Faith grinned slightly, as hearing her inner monologue.

"Yep, see I kinda have this best friend, who seemed to be in all kinds of trouble. So of course I had to make sure she got out of it, ya know?" The brunette half-shrugged, "She needs all the help she can get."

If this had been a dream, Buffy would've thought something witty to retort with, but this was reality. Faith was real. She was here – in flesh and she actually existed. Don't get her wrong, Buffy had known that Faith existed since she was six, but it was nice to have some physical proof.

So instead of talking, she pretty much ran towards her friend, grabbing her into an enormous hug. As soon as she did the tingling feeling pretty much tripled and suddenly Buffy felt warmer and safer than she ever had before. Yes, this feeling was definitely nothing like her reaction to the vampires. Yes there was the tingling, but this... this was incredibly nice, while her reaction to the undead was everything but that.

The hug lasted for a while, since neither of the girls wanted to bring the embrace to an end. It felt natural somehow.

When they finally did stop, neither of them spoke for a while, both silently wondering if they were complete weirdoes for feeling like that while hugging their best friend.

"I can't believe you're here," Buffy finally exclaimed, breaking the silence. "As in flesh."

She pinched the other girl.

"Ow!" Faith rubbed the offended spot on her arm. "What'd you do that for?"

"Just checking if this was real," Buffy smiled, gesturing towards the Master. "'Cause if it was, I'm all done with the Big Bad for the week." She then frowned. "Kakistos?"

"Out there, making his minions do his dirty work," the brunette shrugged, trying to forget the warm tingles running around her spinal cord right now, when Buffy placed a hand on her shoulder. She once again glanced at her watch. "I'm just so glad you're alive," she whispered, when she looked up.

"Makes two of us," the blonde looked around the cavern. "You want to get out of here and grab a bite to eat or something?"

Faith gave her a sad smile. "I'd definitely want to, but I have a flight to catch. I gotta be home for midnight. If not it'll be me whose health we should worry about. Di can get violent when around me and frying pans..." She cracked a grin, just to assure the blonde she was kidding.

Buffy still frowned. "You're going already?! But we just met! Technically..."

"Tell me about it," Faith sighed. "Though we did make sure we exist, ya know? You're five-by-five, which is wicked cool and if you hurry you'll even make it to your dance. Besides we can always meet tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah...Come on, I'll walk you to the sewers," she laughed. "Bet not many can say that to their best friends."

Faith smiled at her affectionately, doing her best to ignore the electrical surge that shot up her hand when Buffy grabbed it. "Now I'm going to think it was all a dream again when I go home."

"Same here," The blonde turned to face her. "Do you have to go, like right now?"

"Plane leaves in thirty minutes, I need like twenty to twenty five to get to the airport," Faith shook her head. Then she stopped. "You know what. Here," she reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. "Keep this, so you'd know I really do exist. I mean ya need some kind of proof that someone as perfect as me walks on Earth."

"Faith, I can't take this. It's yours." Buffy protested weakly, ignoring the brunette's teasing for the time being.

"That's the whole point, B," Faith grinned when Buffy rolled her eyes. "I got to go, but I'll see you tonight, right?"

"Of course."

Faith released her hand, instantly missing the warm feeling that disappeared as soon as she did so. She was slightly happier when Buffy hugged her and the feeling returned twice as warmly. If this was how it felt hugging close friends, then she should have more of those. Like a huge bunch of 'em.

"Bye," Buffy whispered, dragging the brunette out of her thoughts.

"See ya," Faith replied. She started to move towards the way she had came from, when a yell from Buffy stopped her.

"Faith! Wait. Catch!"

The girl turned around just in time to catch a small, thin silver ring.

"B?" she looked surprised. "Isn't this your...?"

"Yup. But now it's your lucky ring. I don't need it any more, given that I have a hot chick in leather for a guardian angel and all," the blonde replied. Had the distance been an inch shorter, there most likely would've been another hug. But since it wasn't, all Faith could do was show off her dimples in a large grin.

"Bye, B."

"See ya, Faithy."

Faith had barely disappeared from Buffy's line of sight, when two guys practically tackled her.

"Angel? Xander? What are you two doing down here?" She asked surprised. She subtly closed her fist around the necklace in her hand.

"We came looking for you," Xander explained. "What did you think you were doing? Hitting Giles and then doing this all by yourself? It's too dangerous. You'll need help..."

"But..."

"No buts, Buffy," Xander broke her off, "We're here to help you, because we're not going to let you die, are we Angel."

"No."

"See, he agrees with me, which by itself should mean a lot."

"Guys..."

"No, Buffy, we know you don't want to put us in danger, but we know how dangerous it is and we want to help you!" Xander exclaimed. "If I die then I'll be happy knowing I died for the good of the universe."

"Besides..." Xander continued, until Buffy roughly stopped him.

"XANDER!" She yelled.

"What?" The boy asked, obvious to the fact that he'd been blabbering before.

"I already killed him," Buffy spoke, folding her hands over her chest. "He's gone."

... moment of silence here...

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Xander pulled Buffy into one of the tightest embraces possible. "You did it. And all by yourself! You're..."

"I didn't exactly..." She looked at the two expectant faces. She thought back to Faith and then she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, damn. Wait here."

She ran back into the chamber below, grabbed the arrow that she had dropped in shock when Faith showed up and hurried back.

"Anyways, the Master's gone. There isn't much left of him that wouldn't fall through a sieve," she shrugged, looking at the two of them. "Nothing exciting." She looked down at the arrow. She moved her hand slightly, so she could feel the chain of the necklace with her thumb. These two items meant the world for her. Not only had one of them saved her life, but they also belonged to Faith.

"Can I...?" Angel had reached out to touch the arrow. He was slightly surprised when Buffy jerked it away from her.

"You do not want to do that," she spoke at his look of confusion. "This seems to be lethal for vampires. The Master didn't stop screaming not for a moment after this pierced him."

Angel nodded in understanding. He looked around the morbid place. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Buffy smiled. "Yeah. We should go to the Spring Dance thing, shouldn't we? Since I'm all dressed up and stuff."

"With you looking like that," Xander whistled at Buffy's look, "we should. But first, shouldn't we check if the others are okay at school?"

"Good point," Buffy spoke, "Let's go."

Buffy deposited the necklace subtly into the pocket of her jacket, before linking arms with her two favourite men. It was time to do some damage control.

It didn't take long for them to reach the school, since Sunnydale wasn't that big of a town. As soon as they did, they understood that something wasn't right. Cordelia's car that was parked in the hallway was a small hint.

"AH!"

Buffy jerked slightly at Cordelia's scream that she was subjected to as soon as she entered the library.

"Are you a zombie?" The brunette asked raising a book over her head in a threatening manner. She narrowed her eyes when Buffy didn't respond. The Slayer looked at the cheerleader, before slowly shaking her head.

"Nope. Just good old me."

"That's... nice," Cordelia nodded, lowering the book. She then turned towards the library general and hollered. "I guess you were right Giles. They've gone away."

"What happened in here?" Xander wanted to know. He looked around the place, frowning. The library wasn't in the best of conditions. The door was full of scrape marks, the floor seemed to be torn up in some places and there were books all around the place.

Willow, being the considerate one, took it upon herself to answer.

"Well, you know, there were hundreds of zombies who wanted to eat me and Miss Calendar. But then Cordelia kind of saved us with her car and brought us to the library. Then the zombies kind of wanted to eat her too. So we hid here, because we thought it was safe. But then this huge green plant came out of the floor. It tried to eat us too, so maybe this place wasn't so safe after all. Since it is after all right above the hellmouth, you would think we would've been smarter than that. Like hiding here wasn't amongst the dumbest of the things to do! But anyways we survived until they all just went away. So we remain uneaten yet again!"

Everybody was quiet for a moment, processing what Willow had said. Giles broke the silence by clearing his throat. He then asked,

"How did it go?" The question was directed to Buffy. The girl shrugged and responded.

"I went, I saw, I conquered. The fact that I'm here and it isn't raining toads quite yet, should tell you something." When nobody replied, she sighed. "The Master's gone."

"That's great!" Cordelia cheered, jumping down from the counter she had been sitting on, "We get to go to the dance."

"Yes, that is indeed marvellous," Giles agreed. "Not the dance part, but the part where the Master's gone. Of course," he amended when Cordelia gave him the evil eye, "The dance is great too."

"The apocalypse has been stopped ... Definitely best news today," Jenny added. Everybody looked at Willow, who shrugged. "What? I don't have to say that stuff. I already understood we were safe when they walked in."

Buffy laughed, spinning the arrows between her fingers, thinking back to the events in the cavern, when...

"Buffy, what is that?"

Surprised, the blonde turned towards his watcher. "What?"

"That arrow. Where did you get it?" Giles reached out his hand and Buffy placed the arrow on it. He examined it. " Oh my. This is interesting."

"What is?" Buffy asked, suddenly nervous for no reason. "I just...found it in the cave."

"You found this in the cave?" Giles seemed more surprised than he usually got when somebody shocked him. "This seems to be carved just to hurt vampires. See these tiny crosses all over the wood. It would be safe to assume that in contact with a vampire's skin or its internal organs, since this is an arrow after all, it would cause serious pain."

Buffy rather felt than saw Angel flinch.

"Not to mention it seems to have holy water in it," the Watcher slash Librarian continued to muse. "This is rather interesting indeed. Do you mind if I take this?"

Buffy frowned. "I actually wanted to keep that."

"I'll be sure to return this to you," Giles assured her. Sighing Buffy agreed. "Can we go to the dance now?"

"Of course," Giles nodded absently. "Though I do want the details about your battle later on. Just to make an accurate entry into your Slayer's Diaries."

The blonde frowned. "Right."

Then the Scooby Gang plus Cordelia and Jenny left the library, leaving Giles there staring at the arrow, remembering the only person who had ever carved these kinds of crosses into the arrows. He hadn't met her in years and now, having something in front of him to bring back memories, he just thought relieved the happy times from his past.  
**  
A Few Hours Later In Boston**

"Faith?" Diana's voice could be heard through the apartment. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Di," the girl yelled. "I'm in the living room."

The woman walked into the room a few moments later. Faith could already tell that this wasn't going to be a happy conversation just by looking at her Watcher's posture. Yet, she didn't stop her push-ups. That way she had a good reason not to look at the woman.

"What can I do for ya, Di?" She asked, huffing slightly as she pushed herself up.

"I'm just wondering here," Diana spoke, her tone calm and calculated. Faith cringed. Her explanation better work or she was going to be skinned alive. "While I was on the plane, my credit card suddenly got charged for a return ticket to a small town near L.A. You don't happen to know anything about that now, would you?"

Faith stopped. She sat up and gave her the best 'I'm so innocent' look, before starting to speak.

All she could do was hope Di bought it. She had never lied to her Watcher before, but she couldn't tell her about B. Not now. Unconsciously her hand went to rest on something a few inches below her collarbone.

When she finished talking, she was utterly surprised to notice Diana near tears.

"What's wrong?" Faith asked, half expecting her to yell at her or something.

"Faith, you, you shouldn't have risked your life like that," the woman shook her head. "I understand that the prophecy you heard made you go, but you could have died!"

"I know," the brunette murmured. "Or worse, someone else could have."

Diana had never seen Faith so mature; willing to face almost certain death to save lives. Sighing, she spoke, "Come here."

Faith was completely shocked when Diana hugged her. Diana was a great person and an amazing Watcher, but she wasn't much into the hugging either, just like Faith herself. So the teenager had a reason to be as shocked as she was. But she slowly returned the embrace anyways. Diana wasn't only a great person and an amazing Watcher – she was also the only mother figure she had.

During that night Faith and Buffy celebrated the death of one major Big Bad and discussed the other one in sight. Buffy warned Faith that Kakistos might keep himself at arm's length for awhile, since it had taken almost a full year for Buffy to get to the Master. Faith, though she wanted to be done with Khaki Toes, like Buffy called him, had to accept it as a large possibility.

After done discussing the big bad villains, Faith told her friend what had happened between Diana and her earlier that night and how she hadn't even made a big deal about the cost of the plane ticket and Buffy filled Faith in about her plans with her father during the summer.

They also managed to spar a little before the dream ended, because someone was shaking Buffy. The blonde groaned and opened her eyes. "Yeah?" she muttered.

"Morning, sweetheart," Her mother's way too cheerful voice greeted her. "Time to get dressed. We're leaving in an hour. If you want to go shopping, you'll be ready."

Buffy forced herself out of the bed and walked into the bathroom for a quick shower.

About twenty minutes later she found herself in front of the mirror, unable to decide. On the one hand she had the beautiful cross Angel had given her a while ago. On the other hand she had the slightly smaller silver cross with the small red decoration in the middle that she had gotten from Faith yesterday.

She took the left one and put it around her neck, before going down for breakfast, the small red part on her necklace glinting slightly as it reflected the sunlight.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

A/N – Hah! Done! Okay, I had to write this, since I made myself a promise to start typing as soon as the review count hit 45. So here you go people. Hope you liked it. My **longest** chapter (Approx 5300 words!)

I'll set myself another goal. The typing of the seventh chapter shall start when the blue numbers hit 60 or maybe 65?

No matter what you say, this is **not** blackmailing :D Love you! See blackmailers don't do love-y things!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N** – I apologize heartily for making you all wait so long. I've had a busy week. But, I'm going to make it up right now. Here you go. I give you -  
**  
Chapter 7**

"And then he was like – UNGH!" Faith spoke, her eyes glinting. "And I was all like – 'This is for looking so monkey-butt ugly!'"

Buffy snorted. Faith stopped the story to look at her and grin, "Okay, I was too busy gasping for air to tell him that, but I really wanted to!"

"Right," Buffy nodded, pulling her knees to her chest. "So, then what?"

" Okay, then I grabbed this enormous wooden beam, right?" Faith raised her hand, reliving the previous night. "And **BLAM** I bring it down like this and he screams and then poof, no more Khaki Toes!"

The brunette beamed at her friend. "It's like over! I get to have a fucking uber-vamp free summer!"

Buffy grinned as the brunette plopped onto the couch next to her. "Alright, before having a relatively normal summer I have to do some serious grovelling for Diana. She's not wicked happy that I took a leaf out of your book and knocked her out and all that."

The blonde laughed. "Yeah, Giles wasn't very thrilled about that part either, but... I couldn't take him with me, you know? Didn't want him out there, especially since I was pretty sure I was going to kick the bucket anyways."

"Luckily for us that didn't happen," Faith spoke, turning around to face her friend. "Still, Di is damn awesome with a crossbow, but you had one hell of a point. I didn't want her to die or something. I kinda need her around, ya know?"

"Of course," Buffy bobbed her head enthusiastically, "You'd starve if you didn't have anyone to cook for you."

"Hey!" Faith exclaimed, kicking the other girl lightly. "I can cook!"

"Yeah, you know, toast doesn't actually count," the girl laughed, jerking away from the foot that tried to kick her again. "C'mon Faithy, I'm just joking."

Faith crossed her arms on her chest. "I am deeply offended, B."

"Fa-a-ith."

"Offended!" The girl repeated.

"Fa-a-a-a-ith," Buffy urged.

"Nope, still offended."

"Ah, isn't it great that Kakistos is dead," Buffy sighed, changing tactics. Instantly Faith's face broke into a full-fledged grin.

"Hell yeah!" She paused. "Wait! That's cheating, B!"

"Cheating? I didn't know we were playing something," The blonde raised a playful eyebrow. "Though... that's amendable."

Faith let her hands fall to her sides. She contemplated the idea.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, given that this is a special day," the blonde spoke, "We could start a new tradition. Games."

"Games," Faith repeated.

"Yeah. C'mon, it's been a while since we forgot the vampires and the hairy monsters under our beds and did something fun. What do you say?"

Faith grinned wickedly. Suddenly two bottles of something appeared in her hands. "Since we are celebrating, I propose a drinking game!"

"I'm not going to get drunk with you!" Buffy protested almost immediately, as two glasses also appeared out of the blue.

"It's a dream, B," Faith reminded her, "It's not like you're going to have a hangover tomorrow. Besides, drinking makes every game a lot more fun."

While Buffy still remained doubtful, Faith raised the half filled glass. "It was your idea, B. Are ya backing out already?"

Scowling, Buffy grabbed the glass. "What are we playing?"

"How about good ol' Truth or Dare?"

"You're so on."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Buffy's tongue darted out to wet her lips. Nervous didn't even begin to cover what she was currently feeling. She glanced at the girl who sat a small distance away from her. She involuntarily bit her lip, preparing herself for every possible scenario.

Faith exhaled audibly. This was Buffy. She knew Buffy. She could do it. She leant closer slowly, deciding to give it a shot. "B?" She whispered.

Buffy's green eyes fluttered up to meet Faith's brown ones. Her breath hitched. Faith parted her lips slightly. This was it.

"Threes?"

Buffy laughed loudly, utterly relieved. "Go Fish, Faithy."

"Damn it," The brunette cursed, pulling back. Maybe intimidating Buffy to give her some kind of a hint didn't work after all. Distorting her face in concentration, she pulled a card from the pile just to curse again.

The blonde beamed at her. "So, Faithy, you have any... Aces?"

Faith looked at her, disbelief written across her features "You're joking!? You can't have an ace!"

Buffy flashed the ace of spades. Faith groaned before handing three aces to the blonde, who smugly accepted them and then put all four cards on the ground. "You're going down," she declared.

"Bring it on, B," Faith narrowed her eyes, putting on her perfect poker face. Buffy's eyes darted to her hand and back to her own cards.

"Queens?"

"Ha, Go F... Damn, wait, I have one," The brunette frowned. "Where the hell did I get that anyways?!"

"Oh, c'mon, don't be a sore loser," Buffy grinned, placing the received queen next to the other ones.

"Who said anything about losing?" Faith snorted. "I'm not going to lose." She adjusted the pillow behind her back and waited until Buffy asked for another card.

"Tens?" The blonde asked after a moment of consideration.

Faith thoroughly checked her cards. "Nope, Go Fish, B."

The blonde frowned, while Faith remembered something. "Talking about fishing, how's it going with you and Mr. Soul?"

"Don't call him that," Buffy warned and when Faith opened her mouth, she added, "And no, you can't call him Dead Boy, Soul Boy, Pale Dude or anything else similar."

"And for the record I haven't talked to him. It's not like I can give him a call or something," the blonde shrugged, pulling a card from the pile. "Fuck."

Faith chuckled. "B, you're hanging out with me way too much. Bad influence and all that."

"Zip it," Buffy replied, smiling slightly. "By the way you do not want to ask me for eights."

_(Moment of silence)_

"You can't do that," Faith protested. "Now I'm thinking that you're saying that because you want me to ask for it... OR you know I'll think that and you really have the eight... Either that or you knew I'd figure it out and this was your plan all along, so you actually don't have it!"

Buffy replied by snickering.

"Okay," Faith gave Buffy a searching look. Her posture didn't reveal anything, so she moved the gaze to her eyes. The girls' eyes locked and for a moment and they just sat there staring into each other's eyes, until Faith sighed.

"Eights?"

For a moment she thought Buffy's weird plan had actually worked and she had just let herself fall into a trap, but a second later Buffy shook her head handing the eight of hearts over. The younger Slayer grinned victoriously. The game was on and she was so going to win.

**  
-Fifteen minutes later-**

"You got lucky," Faith repeated, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to appear brooding. She was failing miserably, since the sight in front of her made the corner of her lips rise no matter what she tried.

"B, what the hell are you doing?" She laughed, unable to keep up the gloomy expression.

"This is my victory dance," The blonde spoke, grinning from ear to ear, as she flapped her hands around slightly while jumping on the bed.

"Okay this is the point where I have to ask – Are you sixteen or five?"

Buffy just laughed, though she did stop the jumping. She turned around, with **that **look on her face. Faith's eyes widened. "Oh no, no, no, no..."

But before she could do something, the blonde had tackled her.

"B, don't. C'mon! Act your age!" Faith tried to struggle free, but the blonde just sat on her stomach. "B! You know, you can't... No! Stop it! B! BUFFY!" She gasped out between the gasps of laughter that she couldn't control.

Faith tried to get away from the torturing hands but it was rather useless. Damn the older girl and her stupid Slayer strength and knowledge about Faith's ticklish spots. "Buffy! Can't breathe!" She gasped. A while later she had to surrender, "C'mon. I'm sorry. I'm fucking sorry. You're not five!"

"Giving up, huh?" Buffy chuckled, stopping the tickling for a moment. Unknown to her this was exactly what Faith had been waiting for. Before the blonde even knew what was happening, she had been flipped over and now the positions had changed.

Faith grinned down at her, slightly flushed from the previous laughing. Buffy struggled a bit, trying to get free, but after a while she was forced to concede defeat. She stopped moving and stared up at the younger Slayer, pulling faces at her.

"B," Faith shook her head, obvious to the fact that her hair was tickling Buffy's neck as she did so. The way the blonde shifted her head constantly should've given her a hint, but she was a tad bit busy teasing.

"So, you think you know how to mess with me?" The brunette asked. Buffy grinned at her.

"Yeah, definitely, more than anyone else anyways," she replied, doing the mature thing and poking out her tongue. Faith laughed, as she leaned back, surveying the blonde.

"Seriously, which happy bug bit you, B?" She finally asked.

"I'll tell you if you get off me," Buffy bargained, "You weigh a ton!"

"Hey!" Faith exclaimed, for some reason unable to stop smiling. "I should so get you for that, but since I'm nice and I do recall having extra portion of jell-O tonight..." She stood up, pulling the still grinning Buffy up with her.

"Okay, you still have to explain what's going on with you, B," Faith spoke up after a while, when the blonde kept acting like a friggin' Duracell bunny on E.

"I don't have a clue," The blonde chuckled, as the two girls now laid side-by-side in the bed. "Actually..." She stopped laughing, propped herself up on her elbow and glanced at Faith. "I think it's you."

Faith expressed herself smoothly and very smartly. "Huh?"

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, "I mean I've had the crappiest month ever, as you are aware. My dad is constantly working 24/7 and the only things keeping me out of utter depression are the dreams I share with you, you know?"

Faith turned to face the blonde, who continued, "Then I have this horrible fight with Dad and I brood in my room, really miserable, angry at everything kinda deal. "

Buffy chuckled, "So I arrive in this dream, all gloomy and unhappy and then you pop out with your silly jokes and card games and incredibly amusing stories about your completely awful dating history and..." the blonde snapped her fingers, "I haven't had so much fun in a long time."

"Glad that someone finds my nonexistent luck with guys amusing," Faith gave the blonde an evil eye, but the small smile on her lips lessened its power.

Buffy leant against the headboard of the bed, sitting up, grinning again, "C'mon those lame morons didn't deserve you anyways."

Faith laughed. "Oh really, so those guys didn't deserve me, yeah? Weren't you the one who told me to go out with Michael in the first place?"

The blonde smirked. "How was I supposed to know he had some kind of a foot fetish?! You kept telling me about him and I, urgently trying to save myself from yet another 'Michael is so wicked hot' conversations, saved my hide by telling you to agree to go on a date with him."

"Yeah right. A date," Faith snorted, "If I ever look towards anyone like Michael ever again, feel free to punch me."

Buffy saluted her jokingly. "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" She then chuckled. "See? I was serious, Faith. Lately you've been the only one giving me something to laugh about and you can't imagine how grateful I am."

"I'm pretty sure I can," Faith fell on her back again, staring at the ceiling. She sighed. Things with her weren't that great either. Her future was marked with a bright red flashing question mark. For a week or so, Diana had planned on moving away from Boston. Ever since Kakistos's death, the vampire activity in the city had dropped drastically. By now, Faith was lucky to find one vampire per night. So since Diana was still her Watcher, it was her duty to make sure the Slayer was in an area worth her time.

Boston just wasn't that anymore. Last time they talked, Diana had been rather thrilled about some place in Mexico. Muchos vampirios therio. Two days ago it had been Cleveland. If forced to choose Faith would rather take the latter. Mexico... just wasn't her thing.

Mentally moping now, Faith didn't see the pillow coming until it hit her right into her face.

"No despair allowed today!" Buffy exclaimed. Faith rolled her eyes. She was just moping in the inside. You can mope there!

Still, the blonde had just hit her with a pillow. It gave the younger girl two options. To continue the moping or to get revenge. After a split second of doubt, the pillow was sent flying. Buffy of course responded by hurling it back at the other girl. Soon enough there was a full-fledged pillow fight going on. It stopped when Buffy, who had only closed her eyes for a moment, opened them to see the ceiling of her bedroom.

Annoyed, the blonde hit the off button on her alarm clock. Now remembering the dream, she grinned, shaking her head, as she climbed out of the bed. She grabbed her clothes and headed towards the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later she appeared downstairs in the kitchen, still beaming. It was like the grin on her face was stuck there! Unable to stop herself, she hummed under her breath, while taking out something to drink other than the horrible tomato juice her father seemed to be so fond of.

She looked around the empty apartment. Her dad had left early to work. What a big surprise. Buffy might've taken it a bit more sullenly, but the dream was still etched into her mind. Chuckling, she grabbed her glass, some sandwich materials and walked into the living room, turning on the TV.

Everything was going to be just fine.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Buffy laughed, jumping away from the brunette. "I would never have guessed, Faithy. You found yourself a good friend in a girl that most see as a bitchy cheerleader."

"B, I've never thought you as a bitchy person," Faith retorted, grinning.

"Touché," Buffy replied. "But for the record I haven't been a cheerleader over a year now. Besides I never bounced around like I owned the world."

"She's not that bad," Faith protested, dodging. "Way smarter than the groupies that seem to follow her around all the time. Those three and the constant giggling and brainless attitude... Sometimes I really want to just grab the and... UNGH!"

The blonde snorted, "Faith, didn't we talk about the grunting?" She then got onto a more serious note. "There's no apocalypse coming though? Nothing trying to take over the world?"

"Nope, just the usual vampires. More of them than I'm used to, but I'll live," Faith groaned, as Buffy's fist collided with her stomach. "No biggie."

"At least you have something to do," Buffy spoke, advancing on the younger girl cautiously, "I think I'm starting to grow to the couch. It already has a nice little Buffy-shaped crater in it."

The younger girl snorted, leaning down as she tripped the blonde, who fell onto her back. She flipped herself up a second later though and turned to face the brunette.

B, you're getting old, a-ah," Faith yelped suddenly, evading the kick aimed at her face. As she regained her balance, she smirked, "Yup, old 'n gray."

"Would you stop pretending to be weak? You are pretending right," Buffy tilted her head, teasing, as pressed forward. "C'mon, just-make-your-move."

Every punch was blocked by Faith, who almost instantly went offensive. "I'm-trying-here," she dodged and then continued trying to take the other girl out. Managing to get the other girl into a chokehold, she grinned.

"So, going to give u - OUCH!"

The brunette blinked away the stars in front of her eyes. "Woah, that's a wicked move." she finally managed to speak, as she stared up at the blonde hovering above her, as she laid spread out on the mat.

Buffy grinned at her, reaching out her hand to pull the girl up. But as soon as Faith's hand touched her own, Buffy felt her leg being kicked away from under her and a moment later she scrambled onto the floor, landing next to te brunette.

"Okay, how come I always fall for you," Buffy spoke, breathing heavily as she scrambled onto her feet.

Faith laughed. "Oh, don't beat yourself up for it. The best of them fall for my charms. I'm just so damn irresistible."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm starting to see why you became friends with the cheerleader of all people."

The brunette just frowned at her, before reaching out her hand. Buffy looked at her.

"What? Do you honestly think I'll ever help you up again after what you did?"

Faith pouted, moving her hand slightly, still reaching towards the blonde. Buffy gave her the evil eye. Faith responded with her version of puppy dog eyes.

A moment passed. It was a hectic battle between Buffy's evil eye and Faith's puppy dog look.

Buffy sighed audibly, grabbing the outstretched hand and pulling the brunette up grudgingly. Faith laughed as soon as she was standing up.

"Works as a charm," she nudged her best friend. "Good to see I haven't lost my touch."

"Why should you?" Buffy asked back, "I'm sure you use that goddamned look on everyone to get what you want."

"Nah, B. It's reserved for you," Faith winked. The blonde smiled slightly and the brunette grabbed her hand. "C'mon, let's sit down. You will not believe who I danced with at the nightclub today."  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx **

"So, anyways Valerie heard from Miley, who heard from Stella, who heard from Victoria, who heard from Katie, who heard from Carmen, who heard from Michelle, who heard from Jason, who..."

"Argh, Gina, we get the point. The list is long," a brunette snapped at the girl, "What's the damn message?!"

Faith exchanged a grin with the brunette, thankful for her sharp comment. She was already on edge and didn't really want an excuse to attack someone, even if it happened to be the blonde blabbermouth, who had been a major pain since day one.

The girl glanced at the two brunettes, frowning.

"Well?"

Faith watched with amusement, as Gina seemed to shrink slightly because CC's tone. Though she perked up as she begun to convey the news.

"The rumour is that the loser of the freak-crew has a crush on..." The girl paused for dramatic effect, before squealing, "Faith!"

A moment of silence. Faith dragged her eyes away from the clock she had been staring intensely at.

"Me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in her own patented way. Gina nodded, enthusiasm written across her features. She was almost expecting for drama. Well boohoo for her.

"Oh," Faith glanced at the clock again. When her eyes returned to the two other occupants of the room, she found them staring at her like she was an alien.

"Oh? That's all you've got to say?" the other brunette asked, her eyebrows knitting together. "I mean, this is horrible."

"Yeah, well, what the fuck can I do about it?" Faith snapped. She instantly regretted it when the girl looked slightly wounded. "Listen, I'm not feeling very good and that was a real shocker and all..."

"So, I'm just going to go. Sleep on it. Come up with a plan of action by tomorrow," she offered.

It seemed to be the right thing to say, since CC smiled slightly. Gina though started to giggle like a maniac, probably mishearing her or something. Faith frowned, but had to smirk, when CC rubbed her temples, looking at the blonde.

"Yeah, it's rather late. You should really go," the cheerleader added, pointedly looking at Gina, who didn't seem to take the hint. "Bye."

Faith grabbed her jacket, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Right, you're joining us in our personal hell aka school tomorrow. Can't wait to see what you're going to wear."

"You're looking at it," Faith gestured at her leather boots, black jeans, red top and leather jacket.

"Is this the point where I should be all surprised? 'Cause I'm really not," The brunette grinned at the Slayer. She then turned to glare at Gina. "So, BYE!"

"Yeah, bye, Faith," the blonde spoke, plopped onto the couch. Faith hid her amusement for the look on CC's face.

"Good luck," she whispered, before slipping out the house. She had to be somewhere. She walked down the abandoned streets, having a certain place in mind. Soon enough she was almost there. Only a block away...  
_  
"Damn it. NOW?!"_ Faith groaned mentally, preparing herself for a confrontation.

"Hello, beautiful," Two men approached her, emerging from the shadows. "You shouldn't be out all by yourself so late." One of them drawled out lazily.

"Yes, a girl like you," the other man took over, approaching her. "All alone..."

"A walking juice box," he leered, leaning in. Faith sighed.

"Listen," she pretended to zip up her boot, her hand finding the stake easily, "I'm kinda occupied here, so could we get on with it? No witty insult exchange, just good old ass whooping?"

Before the two vampires could even begin to comprehend what was happening, Faith had already withdrawn the stake from the first vampire. With satisfaction, she watched as he turned into ashes.

"I'll kill you for that!" The remaining vampire almost screeched, watching in horror as his friend's remains floated away with the wind.

Faith gave him a quizzical look. "You're going to kill me for _that_? What were you trying to kill me before?"

The face of the man warped as he charged at the girl. She side-stepped him easily. As he turned around, his eyes grew wide. The stake thrown at him pierced his skin almost immediately. He screamed and then in a small cloud of dust, he was gone.

Faith picked up the stake, placing it back into her boot. Then she continued her walk while cursing the vampires and their shitty timing.

It didn't take long for her to make it to her destination. She stood on the driveway, glancing at the house.

_"Smart, Faith. Real smart. How do I even know if..." _her inner battering stopped immediately. A small tingly feeling shot through her. _"Oh."_

Weighing her options, the brunette walked around the house. Here goes nothing. She grabbed the branch of the oak nearby and hauled herself up. Then she continued climbing, until she was sitting on the large branch by a window. She was about to knock on it, when the window was pushed open with a swish.

"AH!"

A hand on her shoulder stopped her from plummeting to the ground. She grinned at the owner of the said hand.

"Welcome home, B."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – AH! I'm done. It's 1 am and I have school tomorrow, but I am DONE! I'm so sorry for the delay, really. But I finally did it! So... to show appreciation, you might leave **a tiny review**, right? I'm not wanting much... maybe twice as much as for the last chapter. (Cackles evilly) Nah, really...

Love ya all, people. Just tell me if you have questions or suggestions. I like suggestions. Since I only have one plot point right now...


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N** – All you need to do is ask and you shall receive. Here is the 8th chapter to this story – All thanks to some great reviewers and people, who really like this story and don't let me give up on it. Your effort is appreciated :P

**Chapter 8  
**_  
_"Welcome home, B."

Buffy stared at the face outside her bedroom window. When she felt the slightly ticklish vibes and opened the window, the last thing she had expected to see was her best friend, about to fall off the big oak tree next to her window. And yet here she was...

"Faith?" She asked, still not grasping the whole concept of her best friend being here. Now. In the middle of the night. On top of a tree. Yeah, her brain was once again proving to be very useful.

The girl sitting on the branch grinned at her, her eyes twinkling.

"In all my glorious hotness."

Buffy couldn't hold back the grin that appeared on her lips. Yep, this was definitely her best friend. She slowly removed her hand from Faith's arm, sure that the girl wasn't going to topple off the tree anymore. Faith reacted by grabbing the branch above her head to keep balance.

Buffy tilted her head, a bit amused, but still wondering.

"Faith, what are you doing here?"

"Right now I'm pretty sure I'm getting a cramp in my butt, because I'm sitting on a prickly branch, waiting for someone to remember their manners and invite me in," Faith spoke matter-of-factly, before giving Buffy a long look.

Buffy rolled her eyes at her look. However, a moment later she pushed the window more open and stood by the side of it.

The younger of the two Slayers wiggled her eyebrows, before securing her hold on the higher branch. Then she scared the hell out of Buffy by swinging on it and practically flying through the open window. Surprisingly she landed on her feet very gracefully, not even making a sound.

"Am I good or am I good?" she spoke victoriously. Then she turned to face the blonde, with a smug smirk, which slowly started to fade away, when she saw Buffy staring at something below her neck. If it had been anybody other than Buffy she would've thought they were checking out her rack for sure, but since it was her best friend...

"What?" she asked hesitantly, feeling a tad unsure under the intense gaze.

A gentle smile tugged on Buffy's lips as she approached her slowly. She came to a stop a small distance away from her best friend just to reach out for the brunette's collarbone. Her finger trailed southwards slightly until she reached the chain around Faith's neck.

The blonde's eyes flickered onto Faith's face, who rolled her eyes at her while smiling, finally understanding what was going on. Taking it as a confirmation, Buffy tugged on the delicate chain and sure enough a familiar silver ring appeared, having previously resided hidden from sight.

Buffy's smile widened slightly, as she looked up from it, her eyes locking with Faith's chocolate brown ones. For a moment neither of them spoke, both revelling in the closeness and the awesome Slayer tingles that ran through their system. Then, Buffy spoke, a teasing tone in her voice,

"How come I've never seen you wearing this before?"

"Dunno, B," Faith shrugged slightly, staring down at the blonde's hand and the ring. "It's been there for months."

"Oh no," Buffy shook her head, her hand falling away. "When you teased me about a month ago about me wearing your necklace you weren't wearing this."

"Mm, I was when I went to sleep," Faith admitted, grinning now. "But you know what's good about dreaming? It doesn't have to be same as the reality."

There was a small pause.

"You made it disappear, didn't you?" Buffy exclaimed a moment later, disbelief written across her features.

"Well yeah," Faith's grin widened. "I couldn't make fun of you if I'm exactly the same, now could I?"

She laughed when suddenly a pillow connected with her face. She peeled it off and threw it back at the blonde half-heartedly. She then took a look around, the grin remaining on her face as she spoke,

"You haven't been home for long, huh?"

Buffy snorted, sitting onto her bed.

"The unpacked suitcases are a giveaway huh?"

Faith nodded, looking around the room some more.

"Cool room by the way," she couldn't help but smirk as she noticed Mr. Gordo – Buffy's loyal stuffed pig.

"Not like you haven't been here before," Buffy replied as she rolled over on the bed, so she could look at her best friend. "Which brings me to the question - What are you doing here anyways? I thought the deal was to meet at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, I know all that," Faith waved her hand, "But here I was, nowhere in the neighbourhood, and boom, I thought I should hop in and see how you're doing." She then plopped down next to Buffy, putting on her best psychologist face. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Buffy rolled over once again, now laying on her back and looking up at Faith. She sighed melodramatically.

"Well, doc... I think it all started when I was four years old and I asked my parents to get me a puppy." She paused for a moment, resting the back of her hand on her forehead in an exasperated manner. "But then they brought home Dawn instead..."

**XxXxXxXxXx  
**  
_"Buffy...Buffy..."_

"Mmm..." The blonde murmured through her sleep, as she burrowed more into her source of warmness, trying to ignore the small voice in her head. But then the small voice decided to become a tad bit... bigger.

"BUFFY!"

Buffy's eyes opened slowly as she felt her bed move and possibly groan under her. She blinked a couple times in confusion before she was able to make out the shape of a mom-shaped blob in the doorway.

"Mm... Mom?"

"Buffy," Joyce spoke, hesitantly, as if she didn't know what to say. She tilted her head slowly, looking at her daughter intensely. "What's going on here?"

"I'm sleepin'," Buffy spoke the obvious, her eyes sliding closed once again. Out of habit, she tried to move one of her hands under her pillow, but then realized two things. First, her left hand was now on something very warm, soft and very much skin like. And secondly, her head definitely wasn't on a pillow.

The blonde cracked one of her eyes open and looked towards the direction of her so called pillow. It was Faith. And instead of her hand being below her pillow, her hand was below Faith's shirt, resting on her stomach.

"Oh," Buffy mumbled, closing her eyes again. She was about to fall asleep once more, when suddenly an important thought occurred to her – What the hell?!

Her eyes snapped open and her head jerked away from it's resting place as she stared at the brunette asleep in her bed, looking damn comfortable. She then looked at her mother. She blinked and then pinched herself. Ouch. So, yeah, she was awake. But then... She rose to her elbow, staring at the girl she had been practically draped across a moment ago with curiosity. When did ...

"Buffy?" Her mother spoke, quietly, the inquiry in her voice very clear.

"Mm?" Buffy mumbled, turning to look at her.

"Who is that?" Joyce raised an eyebrow; pretty sure the girl had not been there when Buffy went to sleep.

"She's... she's a friend of mine," Buffy yawned, sliding a hand through her hair. "She came by last night and then we... I think we just fell asleep."

Joyce stared for a moment, most likely about to say something. But then she stopped and shook her head instead.

"I just came to wake you up – school starts in an hour and obviously you are not completely prepared," she tilted her head towards the unpacked boxes, but didn't get to say anything else, because Buffy felt a lot more awake all of the sudden.

"An hour? But I need a shower and I don't know what to wear and..."

"Get moving then," Joyce murmured, looking at Faith, who was still sleeping soundly. "Is your friend staying over for breakfast?"

"I don't think so," Buffy rubbed her eyes, before nudging Faith slightly. She looked at her mom. "I'll be down soon."

Joyce nodded and turned around. She was halfway down the corridor, when suddenly she heard Buffy speak,

"Come on, Faith. Wake up!"

Joyce stopped walking, a frown on her face. Faith? Memories of Buffy's imaginary friend, whom Buffy had believed in till early teens floated into Joyce's mind. But she dismissed them. It was probably just an innocent coincidence. Right?

She continued her trek downstairs.

"Faith!" Buffy shook the younger girl. "Up!"

"Mm, B, stop it," Faith groaned, pulling a pillow over her head. "I'm tryin' to sle..." her brow furrowed in a rather cute way as she removed the pillow from her face, blinking against the sudden light. She stared at Buffy for a long moment. "B?!"

"Morning," The blonde smiled sheepishly from the bedside. Faith yawned, sliding a hand through her hair. She sat up and looked around in confusion.

"I'm awake, right?"

"Yep," Buffy confirmed. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Faith beat her to it.

"Oh no!" The brunette's eyes widened comically wide. "Diana! She's going to kill me!" She looked around the room frantically. "Where's my jacket?"

Buffy picked up the leather item on the ground next to her.

"Here, but hurry up. We have school in about an hour!"

"You've got to be kiddin' me!" Faith hurriedly pulled on her jacket. "Just like me to wake up in some hot blonde's bed on my first day in Sunnydale High. "

Buffy, who had been frantically searching for her hairbrush, gave her a look.

"Seriously, only you could give this situation a sexual innuendo."

"What can I say, it's a talent." Faith gave her a cheeky grin, as she neared the window. "So I'll see you at school, right?"

"Yeah, if I get there," Buffy looked at the unorganized mess everything in her room was in. Then she noticed Faith starting to climb out of the window. She quickly grabbed the girl by her shoulder – tingles shooting up her hand again, more intense than the usual hum she got around Faith. She ignored them for the moment and spoke, seeing Faith's surprised expression.

"Mom saw you and I think it'd be easier to explain your disappearance if you use the front door."

"Oh," Faith stepped away from the window and then her eyebrow rose. "When did she see me?"

"When we were asleep," Buffy replied, withdrawing her hand. "She woke me."

The brunette in leather nodded again. Then she gave her a quick smirk.

"That'll be fun to explain though."

Buffy groaned, not even wanting to think about it. "I have no idea what I'll tell her. But you, come on, go, go, go!"

"M'am, yes m'am," Faith mock saluted her best friend, smiling as she brushed past her and into the hallway. She almost collided with a small kid. "Morning Dawn."

Yawning, the twelve year old mumbled a quick 'good morning' before continuing her trek towards the bathroom. Exactly 3,7 seconds later she froze, turning around just in time to see Faith disappear downstairs. She stared after her for a moment, before blinking several times.

Then she shook her head and walked into the bathroom.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Later that morning when Buffy Summers ran into Mr. Glass's classroom, she expected to see the bald man glaring at her and demanding an explanation of why she was late. So she was pleasantly surprised when she realized the teacher wasn't even there yet.

"Buffy!"

A grin appeared on her face as she turned around to see Willow waving at her, Xander sitting next to her looking a bit dazzled for some reason. She zigzagged through the classroom, approaching her friends.

"Here, we saved you a seat," Willow patted the desk behind their own. "The corner desks are hard to reserve, you know."

Buffy gave her a small smile, as she threw her bag onto the desk behind her friends'.

"I believe that, Will," she spoke, before her eyebrow furrowed. "Xander? Hey, Xander?" She looked at the boy, who was supporting his chin on his hands, his eyes glazed over and... was that drool?!

"Don't bother," Willow said with a knowing look. "He was okay this morning but then _she _said, and I quote, 'Hey, Xander'. He's been catatonic ever since."

"She?" Buffy was confused. "Wait, who is he crushing on now? Another praying mantis?"

"Hey!"

Surprised, Willow and Buffy looked at Xander, who was now glaring at them for some reason.

"She is no bug! She is... She is hot and mysterious and perfect in every way and..." he sighed sadly. " And I know, I have no chance with her. I mean she's a leatherclad superhot chick who's been to juvy for breaking three ribs of a guy who dared to say she had nice eyes and I'm... me. We have absolutely nothing in common!"

"Juvy? Breaking ribs?" Buffy stared at him in shock. "Alright, who's your crush?"

"You don't know her," Xander murmured. "She just moved here and she stole my heart the first time I saw her..."

Willow sighed exasperatedly.

"Xander! The first time you saw her you thought she was the devil because of the people she hangs out with!"

"Yes, but that was before I got to know her!" Xander protested.

"You've spoken like three sentences!"

"And danced!" Xander reminded his best friend. "We danced once. Remember?!"

Willow shook her head, sighing and obviously giving up. Buffy however remained confused and feeling completely out of the friggin' loop!

"Okay. I get it, she's your soul mate or something," she spoke, looking at Xander again. "But who is she?"

"She's... her," Once again a rather glazed look appeared on Xander as he sighed, staring past Buffy. "The woman of my dreams, who I will never have a chance with..."

Buffy turned around. Then her mouth opened slightly in surprise.

"You have got to be kidding me," She murmured.

She stared at the girl in the doorway, who looked to be in pain. But then again, she was talking to Harmony so Buffy could sympathize. Her brown hair was framing her face in a disarrayed, but extremely good-looking fashion and she was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt.

A smile tugged on Buffy's lips as she realized leather was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, as if feeling Buffy's eyes on her, Faith turned her head slightly, now staring right back at Buffy. She grinned at her, before continuing to pretend to listen whatever Harmony was blabbering about.

"Did you see that," Xander spoke slowly, as in shock. "She smiled. At us. At me! Did she smile at me!?"

"Uh, sure, Xander," Willow spoke, trading a bit amused glance with Buffy, who then placed a hand on Xander's shoulder.

"You know what, Xander," She spoke, smiling. "I think you should talk to her."

"What?" Xander appeared to be completely horrified with the idea. "Talk to her? Buffy, are you insane? She's... Faith! I can't talk to her! Besides," his tone went morose. "Why would she want to talk to me? We don't even have anything in common!"

"Maybe there's something," Buffy suggested, biting back a grin. "You got to try and..." She paused, seeing as Willow and Xander were both staring at her, shocked. "What?" But then she felt it herself. The soft tingles she had felt the entire last night were shooting through her once again.

Hands appeared on her shoulders and she tilted her head up-side down, as she stared at the brunette behind her. A soft grin played on her lips as she murmured,

"Welcome to Sunnydale High, F."

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – I know, hadn't updated in AAAGGGEEES, but hey, better late than never. I think I lost some of the plot in my brain and now I'm trying my damn hardest to recover it :P Please bare with me and... review? Please? *Gives you a 'Faith' puppydog look*


	9. Chapter 9

**Dedication: **To **all of the readers**, who keep following this story of mine and reviewing and alerting and stuff – You guys often make my day :) AND of course to my BedMate aka **SleepWalks,** who keeps giving me bright ideas. I'm sorry, but your crazy bananas and tomatoes didn't fit into this chapter xD Maybe next one...

**Chapter 9**

Faith looked at the blonde in front of her. She was like the friggin' epitome of cuteness, sitting on the desk in front of her, her head tilted upside down and a goofy smirk on her face. She linked her hands together behind Buffy's neck gently... well in front of her neck really, considering that the girl had in fact her back towards her and grinned teasingly.

"Aw, it's so nice of you to spend a moment of your time with the new girl."

"Well, see that's a bit hard to avoid it if the new girl just kinda latches on to you, you know?" Buffy replied matter-of-factly. She then mock frowned. "However, now that I actually think about it being seen with the new girl could so totally ruin my rep..."

"Hey, reality check," Faith wiggled her eyebrows, smirking. "The new girl is me. Trust me this is good for your re..." She paused, her eyebrows knitting together. "Wait a friggin' moment. What rep?!"

"Yeah, well... Umm...Point taken."

Buffy grinned as she finally turned around, Faith's hands remaining around her as she did so. She beamed at her best friend, completely obvious to the fact that her other friends weren't the only ones openly gaping at the two girls now. "So, I guess no harm will come to me for being friendly Buffy for a while."

"That's very generous of you and all," Faith begun, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. "But ya know... The rumour is," she leant a bit closer and whispered, so only Buffy and the couple of people closest to her heard her. "That you might be bad for my rep."

"But then again," she continued, still murmuring. She paused when she could practically _hear _people scooting closer to listen in. Dropping her voice even lower, she added. "Another rumour is that I'm pregnant with a biker's lovechild and that I spent four years in a mental institution. Ooh and that I blew up an entire school. So I'm deciding that the rumours in this school aren't the most trustworthy source of information."

"Yeah, a tad bit of truth there," Buffy replied, folding her hands over her chest. "But you should know that your new best friend... _CC_, that is, doesn't really like me nor my awesome friends. And Gina looks like she's going to faint any moment now just because you're talking to me."

"Mm, another perk of being here with you right now," Faith practically sniggered, before glancing past Buffy for a moment. She nodded towards Willow and Xander. "Hey, guys."

Willow managed to mutter a small hey in response, but Xander... The poor thing barely managed to nod, after Willow elbowed him softly.

"So Faith, is there a particular reason you chose to sneak up on me in this lovely morning?" Buffy asked a moment later.

"Didn't you see who I just finished talking to right now?" Faith asked back, giving her a raised eyebrow. "I needed to speak with someone with an IQ over minus 10 before I started to feel like a total retard too."

"Aww, you're such a charmer, aren't you?" Buffy replied, laughing, as she nudged Faith with her foot. "What did Harmony want anyways?"

"Apparently, she has been desk mates with CC since preschool, so she made sure I remembered to turn down CC's offer to sit with her. She offered me a lovely alternative though..."

Faith grimaced at Buffy tilting her head towards the other corner in the room where Gina was staring at them, her eyes wide like saucers, no doubt thinking of one billion and one rumours she could start with this.

Buffy laughed, making Faith frown at her.

"It's not funny," the brunette insisted. "I'll go insane before the first class is over!"

Buffy stopped laughing, but a smile remained on her face.

"Well, here's a very extreme thought..." She gently pried Faith's arms away from her neck, before quickly reaching out and grabbing the brunette's bag from her shoulder. Without another thought she threw it onto the desk behind the one she was sitting on. "You can sit there with this awesome girl I happen to know. I don't think she'll mind and even if she does – she can be bought off."

Faith gave her a full grin, with dimples and all.

"You're a friggin' lifesaver, B."

"Oh, I didn't do it for you," Buffy replied cheekily as she tilted her head towards the doorway where Cordelia Chase stood, Harmony by her side, both looking slightly shocked. Already Gina practically flew towards them, her mouth moving rapidly. "I just want to see you tell them that you're sitting here."  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

"I'll leave you my punching bag."

The bell had rung, signalling the end of class and now everybody was gathering up their things.

Surprised, Buffy looked at her best friend and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Your punching bag?"

"Yeah," Faith grinned, sliding her bag over her shoulder. "Me and Punchy are very close, so it makes sense I'd leave him to you after CC kills me. Besides you really need the work out." She slid a hand over her hair. "So wish me luck?"

"Hah, after your clear insult to my physical skills, I don't think so," Buffy responded, shouldering her bag as well. "Actually, I hope she forces you to with Gina in ALL of our other classes. Just so you'd start to appreciate me like you should."

"Ha-Ha," Faith replied. "That's not even funny." She glanced at the brunette, who was waiting for her by the door out of the classroom. "Because I think she might actually try that."

Buffy grinned and was about to say something to make fun of her friend's situation, when she noticed Cordelia wasn't waiting alone. Willow and Xander stood nearby, both staring at her and Faith. Buffy's grin fell.

"Oh crap."

"Explanation time, B," Faith gave her a last look and a small smile to go with it. "Save me a seat in our next class?"

"If we survive," Buffy muttered, as the two girls made their way to the door. Immediately, Faith was dragged away by Cordelia and her band of brainless wanna-bes. Buffy however...

"You know her!" Xander exclaimed as soon as the other girls disappeared from sight. "How do you know her?!"

Buffy gave him a feeble smile.

"Know who?"

"Oh no, don't pretend to not know," Xander waggled his finger. Then he leant into her face, his eyes wide and spoke, as if speaking about Jesus himself. "Faith."

"Oh, her," Buffy shrugged non-committing as she walked past her friends, heading towards her locker. Her friends followed her immediately. "We met back when I lived in L.A and we've been in contact ever since."

She looked to her left just to see a grinning Xander staring at her.

"You're really, really good friends, right? Because you seemed like very good friends back in that class," he spoke, the grin remaining on his face.

"Yes," Buffy spoke carefully. "We kinda are. Why?"

The gleeful whoopedy-do Xander let out was loud enough to make people turn towards the trio. Immediately Buffy and Willow sighed in unison, understanding where this was going. Buffy gave a sympathetic glance to her guy best friend. Once again, the guy was crushing on a Slayer he had almost no chance with – romantically speaking. When the blonde had suggested that he talked to Faith, she had hoped the crush wasn't very deep and they'd get along just like Buffy did with him. After all, if he got along with Faith, it'd me more natural for the brunette to hang out with them.

But now, she realized that Xander was really into her best friend.

And that was not good. At all.

"Alright, I'm going to go grab my things. I'll see you two in Chemistry and I'll save a seat for you, Will, and of course a desk for you and Faith right by ours," Xander threw another grin at Buffy's direction, before he headed to the other way.

Buffy sighed once again, looking at Willow, who was looking a bit down herself. Wordlessly the blonde placed a hand on the redhead's arm, smiling at her gently.

"He'll get over it."

Willow looked at her for a while, before she shook her head. The two of them resumed walking and she spoke, "I thought that maybe finally he'd... you know, understand I was here too. Because when you slayed that vampire yesterday, I thought we were about to..." she looked at the blonde. "Kiss and then this morning it was all about you and... and Faith - again. It's like I'm not even here."

"He's just a guy," Buffy replied, her tone comforting. "Of course when he sees a girl in tight leather clothes, who's as out there as Faith is, he has to react in some ways." They finally reached their lockers. "But truthfully, and don't tell Xander I said so, he has the snowball's chance in hell with Faith."

"Why not? Does she have a boyfriend or something?" Willow asked, starting to deposit her books into her locker.

Buffy laughed softly at the prospect. Faith hadn't had a boyfriend since she was like fourteen.

"No, that's not it. It's just that," she paused, considering her choices for an answer, "Faith wouldn't go there with Xander. She just... Uh... Well, she wouldn't."

Suddenly Willow's head popped out from behind her locker door. She looked at the blonde hopefully, as she asked.

"Is Faith… well, is she _gay_?"

For a moment Buffy stared at her in shock. Then a small giggle escaped her lips and a moment later she was leaning against the lockers for balance while laughing loudly.

"Sorry, just… Faith being gay. Haha, that's… that's a good one. That's just so…" Another fresh wave of chuckles passed her lips, before she could stop. Still leaning against the lockers she looked at Willow, who was giving her a confused look. "Sorry 'bout that. It's just Faith is no more gay than you or I are," she explained, "Well she's probably even less gay, given the huge amount of guys she has been with."

"Yes, B, that doesn't make me sound like a ho at all."

Buffy paused, her brow furrowing. She hadn't even felt her approaching. Weren't there supposed to be little… Oh, there they were. Tingly and slightly ticklish just like before. A small smile on her lips now, she turned around, just to see her best friend trying her best to glare at her.

"Real nice of ya, B, really. Here I am, trying my damnest to fit into the new school and already you're stabbing me in my back," Faith melodramatically sighed and crossed her hands over her chest. "I thought you were supposed to be my friend."

Willow quickly stepped in, stammering,

"She - She didn't mean it like that. She was just… She just…"

"Told the truth," Buffy rolled her eyes, raising an eyebrow at the brunette. "You got objections to that?"

Faith stepped closer to the blonde, her eyes narrowing,

"And what if I do?"

Willow's eyes widened, as she clutched her books closer to her. She was aware that the gossip mill in the school was enormous, but seriously, now that she saw Faith's stone hard expression, she was starting to believe the one about her taking part in a huge bar fight and being the only one left standing.

"Then…" Buffy stepped closer too, so they were only a few inches apart and whispered. "I'll buy you some cookies and we'll call it even?"

Willow's mouth fell. What?

"Deal," Faith grinned, her dimples showing yet again. "So, whatcha doin' anyways?"

"Well, my dear friend," Buffy begun slowly, as she lifted up a book and showed it to the brunette. "This is a book. Students like us need them in classes so we could become smart and because of that we take them out of these grey large things, which we call lockers by the way and we put them into these little bags and then w… Oumph!"

Buffy's voice was then muffled by a denim jacket in her face. Chuckling she peeled the jacket off her face, throwing it back at the brunette.

"Real mature, Faith."

"Yeah, I love ya too, B," Faith replied cheekily, before surprising Buffy by opening the locker nearby. "I know what you're doing here, but what I meant was," she looked at the redhead nearby, "What the fuck brought on the doubt in my friggin' sexuality?!" A moment later a grin appeared on the brunette's face as she wiggled her eyebrows at Willow suggestively. "You interested or something?"

The sound that escaped Willow's throat was one Buffy had never heard before. It was something that reminded a small squeak, which had a bit of a loud yelp hidden in it as well. Her face redder than her hair, Willow quickly shook her head, her hair whiplashing her face slightly.

"No-no-no," she hastily spoke. "N-not at all. I'm not like that, I mean I don't mind if people are like that, but I'm not like that, because I like, you know, guys, with – with guy parts and not that there are guys without guy parts, well there are but those are you know rare a-and I'm, I'm really into guy parts and you know Xander, because well, he has guy parts too," her eyes widened suddenly as she exclaimed, "NOT that I have seen his guy parts, but he has them. I think… And I… I'm late. To class I mean. I- I got to go. Bye."

And the redhead practically ran off towards the Chemistry class, her books clutched to her chest.

"I think you broke her," Buffy told Faith a few seconds later, as they both looked towards the direction Willow had ran off to moments ago.

Faith tilted her head and looked at Buffy an unreadable expression on her face,

"This was about Xander having a crush on me, right?"

"Mhm," Buffy murmured, shouldering her bag.

Faith nodded, but didn't reply, as she grabbed the books she needed and shoved them into her bag. Wordlessly the two of them started to head towards their class. They were almost there, when Faith  
looked at her blonde companion a very serious look on her face.

"B…?"

Buffy met her eyes with her own.

"Yeah?"

"So, about those cookies…"

**XxXxXxXxXx  
**  
**A/N** – First day of school. I don't know, I like it. Kinda. Of course, it could have always been better, but hey, practice makes perfect. Please, review if you like it and hey, even if you don't you could review and tell me what I could do to make it better. How else could I improve?

**Lots of gratitude – Yours truly =)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Buffy was just about to sit down behind the usual table she shared with Willow and Xander, when suddenly someone grasped her shoulders and turned her around, so she'd face the cafeteria again.

She tensed immediately, biting her lip for a moment as a small sound of contentment tried to escape her lips the moment the hands appeared on her shoulders.

Tingles like that _**so**_ need a warning sign.

She waited a moment, relaxing and coming accustomed to the waves of warmth running down her spine. However, as more moments passed and the reason for the tingles didn't speak, she realized the picture they created might seem a little odd to some people.

That in mind, Buffy decided to ask.

"So... Faith, any chance of you explaining why I suddenly became a Buffy-shaped shield?"

"Sorry, B," the mumble came from behind her, as the hands on her shoulders relaxed a little. "I can't take it anymore."

Willow and Xander approached Buffy and threw her a quizzical look. When the blonde merely shrugged a little, they exchanged a look, shrugged as well and as one sat down and wordlessly stared at the drama happening in front of them.

Buffy turned around slowly and stared at Faith, who looked kinda hilarious trying to hide herself behind the blonde's tiny frame.

"Cordelia's still on your case?"

Faith looked away from the cafeteria door, she had been eyeing. Then she shook her head slowly.

"No, she's five-by-five with me doing whatever it is that I do."

"Really?" Surprise was clear in Buffy's voice as she found herself also glancing towards the direction Faith was gazing to. "Then who am I supposed to protect you from."

"Gina," Faith hissed. "And you're not protecting me. You're protecting her from a very painful and torturous DEATH!"

"Oookay," Buffy placed a calming hand on Faith's shoulder. "In and out, Faith. Iiin and Ooout."

When Faith just narrowed her eyes at her, she grinned sheepishly.

"What? They do it all the time in TV."

The brunette chuckled against her will and looked at Buffy for the very first time since she had grabbed the girl. For a moment she gazed at her in silence. Then she sighed and leant in a little, before whispering in a rather pissed off tone.

"I just hate her so fucking much."

"And I totally see where that could come from," Buffy replied. "But can I maybe protect Gina while we're sitting down and I don't know, eating, maybe?"

Faith glanced down at her stomach, which seemed to be making her decisions for her sometimes before she nodded slowly.

The two of them sat down, Faith pulling a food-loaded tray seemingly out of nowhere. She didn't realize her bad decision for seating before she had already sat down next to Buffy and looked up – just to see Xander staring at her, his sandwich hovering by his mouth.

"Ugh. Hi, Xander?" She offered.

That only made Xander's eyes widen a little bit, as he nodded enthusiastically, his cheek rubbing against his sandwich as he did so. Unfortunately, the guy didn't even notice.

The three girls behind the table exchanged a look, before all of them looked to different directions. The direction where Faith found herself looking though didn't have good news.

"Gina," She jeered, her eyes practically throwing hugeass cannonballs at the blonde.

"Okay," Buffy placed her sandwich down with a sigh. "What the hell did she do?"

Faith glanced at her and then at Gina again. Then her eyes swept over Xander and Willow, who were seated across her. She beckoned to Buffy with her index finger.

The girl rolled her eyes, but leant in anyways.

Willow surveyed as her eyes widened, then narrowed. Then the blonde's mouth formed a thin line.

When Faith finally pulled away, Buffy surprised them all by smiling.

The Slayer reached to her tray, took a small bite out of her sandwich, chewed it thoughtfully, smiled a tad bit wider and then spoke,

"A tractor."

Willow's brows furrowed.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah, what the redhead said," Faith threw a baffled look at Buffy. "What the hell does a tractor have to do with this?"

"C'mon, guys," Buffy smiled, biting happily into her sandwich. "Obviously that's what I'm running Gina over with!"

**XxXxXxXxXx  
**  
"Hey!"

Faith turned around in the otherwise empty hallway to see the blonde jogging up to her.

"Hey, I thought you left already," she spoke, glancing at her watch. "Or were you forced to witness girls in short skirts jumpin' around too?"

"Girls in short skirts?" Buffy raised her eyebrow quizzically.

"Cheerleading tryouts," the brunette shoved her hands into her pockets, as the two of them walked through the exit side-by-side. "I don't think I could've survived another "Gimme a V for VICTORIIIIII," she rolled her eyes as if in pain, "So I bailed on CC."

She nudged Buffy slightly, when the girl laughed at her pain.

"Gee, B. Thanks for the support."

"Aww, poor you," Buffy teased. "And no, I was not forced to go to the cheerleading practice; I was talking about the Master with Giles and..."

"Hm?" Faith looked at her expectantly, when the blonde didn't continue.

"...And it really sucks that I can't tell him about you... and me... I mean - about us and our... thing...I mean the thing we're having... doing..." the blonde paused for a second as she pondered her ability to word sentences. "Okay, that phrasing was really weird."

"No shit," Faith smirked, before kicking a stray pebble. "And you know I can't let you tell him. Especially with Diana out of town."

Buffy pursed her lips.

"But we need to do something. This..." she brushed her fingers over Faith's bare hand and shivered when the tingles shot up her arm. She immediately glanced at the brunette. "You get this too, right?"

Faith stared at her for a moment, before hmm-ing.

"On the positive side I'm not nutters," Buffy continued. "And it does feel kinda..." she trailed off, unable to explain the sensation. She glanced at the brunette and asked. "What does it feel like for you?"

Faith gave her a look, as they kept walking, her hands stuffed into her pockets again. The brunette then shrugged and gave her a tiny grin.

"Pretty fucking awesome."

Buffy gave her a small smile in return, before sighing.

"But..."

"Always a but," Faith groaned.

"But," Buffy continued. "It can't be normal. I mean I like this too, but people shouldn't make you all tingly and, and hot and..."

"Hot?" Faith cut in, stopping to look at her best friend. By the look on her face, Buffy knew she was in heaps of trouble now. "I make you hot, huh, B?"

"Shut up," the blonde flushed, realizing her bad choice of words. "I meant..."

"Oh, I know what you meant," Faith's dimples were on full show as she looked ahead. "And here you were questioning my sexuality when in fact..."

"Shut up," Buffy repeated, adding a bit speed to her steps as if trying to escape her best friend. "It's not funny and..." she froze as soon as a hand grasped her own. Slowly looking down at Faith's arm, she sighed.

"...and so not normal."

Faith tilted her head, her eyes on her own hand as well.

"You felt this last night too, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," the blonde replied.

"And when we were down at the Master's lair?"

"Yep."

"And it bothers you?" Faith's voice was quieter now and her eyes focused on Buffy's face instead of her arm. "Does it?"

"What? No, yes... No," Buffy fumbled with words, before shaking her head decisively. "No, it doesn't. Like you said, it doesn't feel half bad, but..."

"But it's not normal," Faith withdrew her hand and pocketed it once more. She nodded towards the pathway, starting to walk. Buffy followed.

"Yeah and that's why I think we should tell Giles and my friends," the blonde spoke.

Faith shrugged softly, keeping her eyes ahead.

"To Giles maybe? To your friends... we probably won't be allowed."

"Allowed?"

"The big guidebook shit." Faith rolled her eyes. "I'm still shocked you got away with it."

"... the guidebook?"

"What?" Faith glanced at her. "What's with it?"

"There's a guidebook? For real?"

"Wait. You don't have a guidebook?"

"What guidebook?!"

They stopped walking for the time being and separated, as Faith scratched the back of her neck.

"That black book? Full of rules and stuff, you know?"

"No, I don't know," Buffy's eyebrow furrowed. "Why didn't I get a guidebook? I want a guidebook!"

"Heh, I don't think so, B," Faith leant against the oak nearby. "It's really big and fat and heavy and there are way too many friggin' rules to memorize."

The blonde gave her a look.

"It's a matter of principles. If you get one, I should get one! Unless..." A small grin fell onto her lips. "Maybe Giles doesn't think I need one, because I'm already brilliant!"

"Or he thinks you're too blonde to memorize them anyways ," Faith joked, smirking when Buffy made a grimace at her. "You should probably ask him, tho."

"Yeah and explain that as what? Hey, Giles, I just got this gut-feeling that says I should have a big fat guidebook full of rules?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow. She suddenly sighed. "Keeping a secret like this... I hate it."

"C'mon, B," Faith murmured, unable to take the sober tone Buffy was using and the utter moroseness on her face. She stared down at the ground for a while, before speaking. "Don't fucking do this, B. I mean... I can't just go behind her back and...fuck..."

"Faith..."

"No, listen. I don't wanna go against Diana, but," The brunette looked at her, something in her eyes that Buffy had never seen before and thus couldn't identify. "...but if you want to tell Giles that bad, I'll go with ya, ya know that, right?"

For a moment the two slayers stood on the street staring at each other and then Buffy released a long breath.

She smiled gently a moment later and grabbed the brunette's hand, smiling a bit wider at the sensations coursing through her arm a moment later.

"Let's go," she spoke, beginning to trot down the street, practically dragging Faith after her.

"Hey, doesn't the guy live...?" Faith asked about a minute later as she glanced to the opposite direction from the one Buffy was dragging her to. The blonde glanced at her and shook her head,

"We're not going to Giles's house. Not before you've spoken to Diana at least," she twitched her nose slightly. "I mean I hate keeping secrets from Giles, but," Buffy caught Faith's eye as she spoke, "I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do, either."

The brunette held her gaze for a small moment after that, before she asked,

"Where the hell are we going then?"

"Grocery shop," Buffy spoke matter-of-factly.

"...And we're doing that 'cause...?"

"You want your cookies or not?"

Faith grinned almost immediately, her hand giving Buffy's a slight squeeze that sent a tingle down their spine. She started to march down the street, this time being the one to drag the other after her.

"Don't drag you feet, B! Cookies are waitin'!"

**XxXxXxXxXx**

The blonde's brow furrowed as she surveyed her friend. She had to admit that this was an environment she had never seen Faith in before, and honestly, the way she was out there...

Buffy raised her drink to her lips, looking away from the brunette in the middle of the dance floor. She was practically oozing sex appeal and all the men surrounding her were a clear proof of that.

"Wow, she's really into the, uh," Buffy glanced sharply at her redheaded friend, who instantly flushed a little, before murmuring, "Beat."

Buffy nodded, looking back at the brunette. She had always known Faith liked to "find the fun" once in a while, but she hadn't expected her to be that... good at it.

She surveyed her best friend, surprised by the ease she handled the guys around her with. As if she had gone through the motions before. When she sidestepped another way too grabby hand in a movement, that wouldn't have looked like anything but a hot dance move for an untrained eye, Buffy realized that she had. Probably more than a couple of times.

Of course Faith had told her about her partying and her tendencies to just let go, but the blonde had never actually seen her in action so to say. And she realized, she looked kinda...

"Hot."

Buffy coughed, causing her to almost choke on her drink. Had she been talking out loud or was it just...

"Xander," Willow sighed, obviously irritated in her own shy kind of way. "She already told you she wasn't interested, remember?"

"Yes," Xander murmured, looking dejected for a moment. Then he brightened a little, "But there are other fish in the sea, right?"

When Willow gave her a bright smile and a nod, he grinned at her best friend, before he remembered something.

"Oh, I have to use the big boy's room," he flashed a smile at his friends and left the table.

Of course he knew Faith wasn't interested. After all, she had flat-out told him that just last week, explaining it with the she's not into the dating scene thing. He was shocked that she was so ... cool about it and actually took time to say something instead of just mocking him, like he was sure some of her 'friends' would have done.

Willow thought he was on the path of recovery and Buffy, well she found it kinda ironic that he had managed to find the only other slayer besides Buffy and harbour a crush on her as well. Maybe he had a friggin' radar or something.

Or maybe she and Faith were just kinda hot, athletic and attractive to guys.

It was one out of the two.

Buffy thought back to the last week. Faith was fitting in pretty well. Okay, with about half of the people anyways. She scared the hell out of the other half, who still hadn't learnt the nonexistent amount of truth in the rumours. Funny part though, Faith quite enjoyed her so called bad girl status, even though she usually spent a bulk of time saving people's lives instead of cage fighting as the latest rumour was.

Speaking of which, Faith had just a few days ago helped her save Cordelia from becoming Corpse Bride – the live version (Or as live as a Corpse Bride would get) – without blowing their secret. They hadn't still told anyone about what was going on and to be honest, the blonde was a bit shocked about the fact that nobody had yet found out. After all in Sunnydale secrets usually stay secret for oh, about 5 seconds or so.

But what mattered was that the secret was safe for now and considering that Diana was supposed to return in time for the parent-teacher conference held in five days it was almost time to come clean anyways.

She threw another look at the Faith on the dance floor and was caught by surprise when she found her already on her way towards her.

In about five seconds, the brunette was close enough to her so she'd feel the electric hum strong and clear. Without any ado, Faith draped her hand across her shoulders, leant close and whispered,

"Remember how I promised to make you enjoy a fucking night out for real once?"

Buffy could only nod as she recalled the dream they had shared a few months ago.

"Wanna have a drink?"

The blonde blinked at the husky whisper in her ear. It took her a moment to snap out of it and gesture at the Coke in her hand.

Faith, luckily for Buffy, removed her lips from the close distance of her ear before letting out a laugh.

"B, we're supposed to be partying. Coke is not what I had in mind," she threw the blonde a grin that clearly showed her amusement at the blonde's innocence.

"Alcohol?" Willow's eyes went wide as saucers. "But you're," she looked around her and whispered, as if talking about murder, "Underage!"

Faith looked between the two girls, her grin still intact.

"You two crack me up, ya know that, right?" She asked, the statement directed at the redhead. However a moment later she looked back at Buffy. "So what do you say? Want me to go score us some free drinks?" She threw a glance over her shoulder at the bartender, who was eyeing her as well. "It'll be a piece of cake."

Buffy tilted her head to look at her friend.

"I can totally tell that you do this more often than you've told me about."

"A couple of times more," Faith shrugged nonchalantly, now looking at the crowd for some reason instead of the blonde, "Come on, you promised me a killin' night out if I managed to drag my ass here, remember?"

Buffy exchanged a look with the redhead, looked over at Faith, the pervy bartender, who'd probably give Faith just about anything and then slowly but surely shook her head.

"I can't, you know, let **that** loose tonight."

"Seriously, B?" Faith's eyes found her again.

The blonde nodded.

"We have school tomorrow and, and you know how my mom is about drinking," she tried to reason with the brunette. For a moment she was 100% sure Faith was going to ditch her, go get her drink and find some random dude from the dance floor to party with instead of the three of them, who obviously weren't the type of people she had grown accustomed to, but the other Slayer merely let out a sigh.

"Have I told you how much I hate it when you're so totally right and I'm not?" she asked a moment later, wrinkling her nose. "Makes me feel like..."

"You should respect my brilliance more?" Buffy asked, relieved that she hadn't been ditched.

"No, ashamed that I'm outsmarted by some preppy blonde person, obviously," Faith spoke sardonically, smirking when Buffy poked the arm she had draped across her shoulders. "Now come on, if we can't drink, we can at least dance, right? And if you tell me you have a problem with that, I swear to god, B..."

"I don't have a problem with dancing," the shorter of the two protested, "It's just that I'm here with Willow too..."

"Who obviously has two feet and can dance with us," Faith interjected.

Buffy shifted a little, before slowly admitting the real reason,  
"And you're a little, well, a lot better at that kind of dancing than we are."

Willow nodded her head quickly.

Faith gave them her own patented version of the 'you've got to be joking me look', before shaking her head and speaking slowly.

"Get up."

"What?"

"I said get up," she repeated as an answer to Buffy's question. When the blonde did so, Faith let her hand fall around her friend's waist. She nodded towards Xander, who had finally resurfaced from his long trip to the bathroom and told her to lead Willow to the dance floor, which the boy almost immediately did.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked hesitantly, as Faith begun to follow the pair, her hand still around Buffy.

"Well, B," Faith turned around to face her in the middle of the crowd. "I'm going to teach you how to dance like I do."

With that she moved a little bit closer to the blonde, applied some pressure to her waist, leant close enough to her so her breath was once again tickling Buffy's ear and murmured softly,

"Just go with me here."

And Buffy did.

The results were pretty breathtaking as almost all the guys - some of who ended up blatantly staring as the two girls danced - and even some girls can admit.

Buffy and Faith clicked and when the four of them finally made it out of the club, all of them slightly winded – some more than others – Buffy realized that they did it on more than one level.

Gazing the now laughing brunette, who was teasing Xander and Willow about something, Buffy realized that over the years she had become one of the most import person in her life.

And that only worsened the situation she'd find herself in a week later...

XxXxXxXxXx

**A/N** – I am ashamed to see the date I last updated and thus, I apologize to all of you, who can't even remember what the effin' story was about, because you know, the author is such a slowpoke.

Sorry guys, but I can't help it. I'm just the mighty slowpoke me, who has issues with writers block.

Don't hate me though!

**Love, me  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Faith poked out her tongue, concentrating on the brush in her hand and the line she was drawing.

"I'm doing my part," she spoke, slowly dragging the brush across the paper. After making an almost inch long line, she stopped, placed the brush down and hopped up. "And I'm done. Can I go now, B?"

The blonde, who had been dutifully cutting out paper, hopefully looked up. However, as soon as she saw Faith's handiwork, she frowned.

"That's it? That's your contribution to my education?"

Faith looked back at the humongous empty paper and that tiny line on it.

"Education is overrated," she declared a moment later. "Besides shouldn't there be another chick here to help you out? Sheila something? And how come I don't see Red or Xan-man? Don't they give a shit about your education?"

"They'll be here," the blonde murmured, before frowning at her paper. "Is it crooked?"

She lifted up the canvas and Faith couldn't help but snicker.

"No, straight as Elton John."

"Hey, don't mock me!" The blonde groaned. "It's not my fault these scissors are faulty and the paper keeps slipping, okay? I'm... I'm incapable of handiwork! I... I had issues with macaroni craft back in kindergarten!" She threw the red scissors down as if a petulant child. "I want to go home."

Faith wrinkled her nose at the paints and brushes, before groaning as in pain.

"You need to impress your mom, right?"

"Yeah," Buffy murmured, still pouting.

"And you need to stay in this stupid school."

"Yeah..."

"Okay then," she grabbed her brush, narrowing her eyes at the mocking canvas in front of her. A second later, she shook her head, turned and handed the brush to Buffy. "You paint and I'll cut."

Buffy hesitantly took the paintbrush, before grabbing Faith's hand to pull herself up. As she did so, they found themselves standing face-to-face. She looked up at the taller girl and grinned, making Faith roll her eyes at her.

"Tell me, why I'm doing this again?"

"Because I charm you with my awesome looks, incredible brainwork and unbelievable smile," the blonde spoke matter-of-factly, before her grin lessened into a soft smile. A second later, she pressed her lips against Faith's cheek gently. "And because you're an amazing friend," she murmured, before withdrawing, stepping away and moving towards the table with the paints on it.

Wordlessly, Faith shrugged off her jacket and threw it onto the ground. There was of course a small amount of things she wouldn't do for her friend, but cutting papers was not one of them.

So there she sat, carving out posters, little moons and colourful streamers, just because Buffy had asked her to. It was weird. She wasn't the type of a person to waste her time cutting out moons because someone had asked her to, but she was forced to admit that Buffy had her wrapped around her finger.

And there was a reason it didn't bother her. Every time she glanced towards the blonde and saw her looking back at her, a tiny swipe of paint on her cheek, she knew that the feeling was mutual.

This was what having a best friend was all about.

Of course, it didn't take long for both Willow and Xander to show up as well and soon they were almost done. However, that's when Cordelia appeared and practically dragged her out of this "horrible company."

They passed Giles in the hallway and she smiled – well, half-smiled at him, to his surprise it'd seem. After all, they had barely spoken during the month Faith had spent here. But they were about to be introduced.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

"I'm cool, ya know, as long as Diana doesn't meet with Glass," Faith spoke, about to sip the lemonade Buffy had made. However, a hand on her glass stopped her.

"Sorry," Willow smiled sheepishly. "Just... you don't want to do that."

"Oh... okay," Faith slowly placed the glass down, not even questioning the warning. After all, she did know who had made it. "So what are we doing here again?"

"We're helping Buffy," the redhead explained. "Her mom and Principal Snyder must not meet at all costs."

"Oh, right," Faith fixed up her denim jacket. "We're the diversions, right?"

"Right and we," Willow paused, when she noticed Faith gazing off to some direction. Before she could ask, Faith beat her to the punch.

"That's Diana. Listen, I'll be right back, okay?" she threw a look at the redhead. "It'll just take a moment."

Without another word, the brunette hurried off to meet the blonde by the wall. They soon disappeared, leaving Willow act as a diversion all by herself. Soon enough, she was assigned as a personal tour guide to Mrs. Summers – to show her all the places Buffy's teachers were not at.

Just as the redhead finally gave up and brought the woman back to the middle of the room, where she unfortunately met with Snyder, Faith and Diana started their heated argument.

"Wait, what?"Faith stared at her Watcher with pure horror. "No!"

"It's not up to you, Faith," Diana spoke, calmly – too calmly in Faith's opinion. "The Council has made its decision and we can't fight against it."

"But why?" The brunette slid a hand through her hair, frowning. "Why? Why now? Why at all?!"

"I ... don't know," her watcher replied after a small hesitation. "They wouldn't explain their decision. All I know is that we must do as we were instructed."

"Now come on," she placed a comforting hand on Faith's shoulder. "Can I meet your other teachers or..."

With a cold shrug, Faith got rid of the hand.

"What's the point anymore?" she murmured, turning around and walking away.

"Faith!"

She ignored her watcher and kept going until she found her best friend. Their eyes met across the room and just as she was about to gesture for her to meet her in the hallway, their little party was interrupted.

The large glass window in the room broke and a bunch of vampires jumped in, all of them looking ready to attack.

Faith grabbed as many people as she could and helped them escape, knowing that at the other end of the room, Buffy was doing the same.

So with that, half of the people ran to the left, Buffy included and the other half ran to the right, Faith making sure that none were left behind.

About three minutes later, the brunette found herself in a large room with about ten people she had never met. She slid her eyes over the room, satisfied with the lack of windows and the easily blocked door.

"We should try to escape," an older man spoke up, confident all of the sudden.

"What?" Faith turned around. "Are you completely insane or something, mister? You aren't going anywhere right now."

"Listen," the man stepped closer, placing a mocking hand on her shoulder, that seemed tiny compared to his huge hand. "I realize you're just a young girl, but those kids are just probably under an influence and wouldn't hurt a fly. I could get by them easily..."

Suddenly they all heard a loud crash. Faith wheeled around, nudging off the enormous limb on her shoulder. She was seriously tired of people touching it. However, for the time being she dispelled the thought of shoulder protection and concentrated on the banging on the door.

"They're trying to break down the door," she mumbled. Then she turned towards the room, which was full of scared people and repeated, louder, "They're trying to break down the damn door!" She moved by the bulky man in front of her, elbowed the case holding the axe meant for emergencies and grabbed it.

A second later, she shoved it into the man's hands.

"You'll stay here and if they get through, which they probably won't, but IF they do," she grabbed him by the shirt. "You'll get your fucking chance to show how easily you'll get by them."

"For the rest of you, I may look like a kid to you, but if you go out there, you WILL die. Did you get that? You'll fucking die!" She turned around and pulled off the thing in front of the ventilation. "Just stay together here and don't try to be a hero," she directed that at the man holding the axe. "Cause in case you haven't seen any horror movies, the heroes are always the first to go."

With that, she slid into the ventilation, hoping that they listened to her. Judging by their pale faces they might've.

She continued crawling for a minute or two, before she realized something. The plan she had made, while yelling at people, had a teeny-tiny flaw in it.

She tilted her head, staring at the two shafts in front of her, unable to decide, because, hello, she had no idea where either of them led. Just as she was about to give up and just drop down from somewhere, she felt something.

Something rather encouraging. Barely a moment later, she also heard a soft whisper.

"Come here often?"

She would've laughed if she could've, but right now, that might get her killed, so instead she looked behind her and smirked.

"Go to the left," Buffy whispered again and without a word, the brunette begun to crawl. They had been moving for a small while, when Buffy added, "Nice pants by the way."

"Stop checking me out, Summers," Faith replied, her voice low and a small grin on her lips. She was about to ask where they were heading, when she heard it. Without any warning she stopped, ignoring the small oomph she heard from behind her a second later.

"Are we here already?" Buffy asked, placing her ear against the floor of the shaft.

Faith, still surprised by the voice she had heard, turned around, opened her mouth and then... fell, as Buffy had purposely broken the ventilation duct. They both landed on their feet, Buffy gracefully, and Faith – well, she was just glad she managed to land on her feet.

She looked around the library for a second, before reaching over and flicking the blonde over the head.

"Thanks for the warning."

"Sorry," Buffy spoke sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "I just wanted to... Oh... snap."

Faith, realizing there was something behind her that shocked her friend, instantly grasped her stake and turned around. A second later her eyes widened and the fingers around her stake loosened.

There stood her Watcher. She was standing there, right next to Rupert Giles. And Rupert Giles was holding her arrow. One of the arrows Diana had personally fletched. Neither of them looked very happy and Faith had a reason to believe it was not just because vampires had invaded the school.

She swallowed, before voicing the only thought in her mind.

"Fuck."  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

"Buffy, what is the meaning of this?" Giles asked.

The blonde, having adapted a deer-in-headlights look, glanced between the two Watchers. A moment later, she shrugged innocently. Then she frowned a little and looked around, probably for weapons.

"Vampires broke into the school," she stated, "and we have to stop them."

"That's not what I was..."

"She's right," Diana interrupted, her eyes solely on the brunette in front of her. "They have to take care of the threat to the others out there." As soon as Faith begun to move towards the weapon rack, she continued. "But this conversation will happen."

Faith paused for a second, glanced over her shoulder in an indication that she had heard and then grabbed a rather big axe, throwing it to the blonde, who caught it effortlessly.

She took a sword for herself, slid her eyes over the library and froze.

Buffy seemed to come to the same realization.

"You're here alone?" She asked, her brows furrowed. "Didn't anyone come with you?"

"Xander went to get help," Jenny Calendar filled them in, glancing warily at the two Watchers near her.

"And Cordelia and Willow?" Faith frowned.

"They're locked in the closet across the hall," Buffy placed a stake under her shirt. "My mom, Snyder and four others are in the Science lab."

"Ten more are in the classroom down the second hallway," Faith added to the count, grabbing a cross or two. She glanced at the adults in the room. "Help them out once we get rid of the vamps guarding this hallway."

The two Slayers exchanged a glance and a nod and begun to climb back to the vents, when Diana stopped them.

"Do you even have a plan?"

"Well," Buffy glanced at her best friend. "They split up to hold us here..."

"So our best bet is to take them out one-by-one," Faith ended her thought. Then a tiny grin appeared on her lips. "They'll never see it coming."

"Be careful," Giles took off his glasses, a nervous habit of sorts.

"Don't worry, the Chosen Two are on the case," Buffy hopped up and hoisted herself back into the ventilation system. "Will be fine."

She moved forward a little, making room for Faith to climb into the vent as well.

"Faith!"

The brunette glanced down.

"Yeah, Di?"

"Just be back in one piece, okay?"

Faith nodded.

"Will do."

And the two of them started to crawl once more.

"Hey," Faith murmured, as the reached the vents above the hallways.

"Yeah?" Buffy asked back, holding onto her axe, so it wouldn't clank against the metal beneath them.

"Your pants are pretty fine as well."

Buffy glanced over her shoulder and presented her best friend with an amused look and a raised eyebrow. Then she shook her head and continued the trek.

The two of them finally dropped down right next to the room Buffy's mom was in. With ease, they took out the vampire nearby and Faith, managing to remain unseen by Joyce, headed forward a little, dusting another one, while Buffy led the adults to safety.

Then they headed towards the hallway they knew Spike to be. They didn't make it far though, before two vampires lunged at them.

"Hey, B?" Faith asked, kicking one of the vampires in the face.

"Yeah?" Buffy sent the other vampire flying against the wall with a nice roundhouse kick.

"Diana told me – ow..." Faith dodged the next punch thrown her way and aimed her own into the vampire's face. "... that..." she kicked the vampire once more. "...we have to..." she pulled out her stake and dusted the vampire in a swift movement. "...move."

"What?"

Faith turned around to see Buffy standing there, her own stake in her hand, a tiny amount of dust by her feet and a shocked look on her face.

Buffy stared at her best friend in front of her, knowing she probably didn't look as cool and collected as the brunette in front of her, but she couldn't care less right now.

She had enjoyed having Faith around more than she had expressed. The depression of being the only one in the world with this kind of burden to bear was gone. The feeling of safety she felt around the brunette might be stalked on their weird connection, but the happiness Faith brought her was just good old Faith.

The brunette had been a big part of her life ever since she could remember, but during the last month, she had begun to realize how good it was to have her for real, not just in her dreams.

And now it was over.

The two of them stared into each other's eyes for a second more, before they both turned, as in sync, and headed towards the room Spike was in.

They couldn't deal with that right now.

Not yet.

But soon.  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx  
**  
**A/N** – Okay, I updated again so soon. I shock myself as well as the people around me. I actually ahve proof of that. Wait...  
**  
CUT'N'PASTE FROM MY MSN LOG!  
****  
I say**:

and I'm writing Slayer's Bond  
I might actually update today :D

**She says**:

u update a lot altely  
lately*

**I say**:

I've updated...  
:D once (This month)

**She says**:

which is more than usual for u :D:D

SEE? Even my friends are surprised :D However now my once in a month became once in five days, thanks to this story. Anyways, I hope you don't think this is utter crap. Feel free to leave feedback.

Love, me :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"I just don't..." Diana Dormer looked into her cup of tea as if hoping to get answers from there. "How long ago did you meet again?"

"When we killed the Master," Faith filled in, throwing a quick look at the blonde next to her on the couch. When exactly they had decided to leave their dreams out of the conversation, she didn't know, but the decision was made. Obviously, after finding out they weren't going to be able to stay in touch physically, the dreams were something they intended to hang onto.

"'We'," Giles repeated, sipping his own tea and looking rather serious. "Because while we," he gestured to himself and Diana, "thought both of you did this incredible deed all by yourself, the truth to the matter was..."

"Teamwork," Buffy spoke softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she avoided the disappointed look in her Watcher's eyes. "That's what it took... Without her... I think Faith saved my life down there." She let her lips turn upwards a little. "No, I know she saved my life down there."

There was a small moment of silence as everybody looked into different directions, unable to think of anything to say.

"The Codex is never wrong," Diana finally spoke. "That's why I was so shocked you made it out alive, but I think I understand it now."

Giles placed his tea down and turned to look at the woman. Evidentially, he wanted to hear this as much as the two Slayers on the couch did.

"The Slayer will face the Master and she shall die, while the Master will rise," the British woman murmured thoughtfully. "But the Slayer didn't face the Master." She met Faith's eyes. "Somehow, I have no bloody clue how, but instead of one Slayer, two of them faced him."

"Wow, Di, never heard ya swear before," Faith smirked a little, before stopping at the glare she was subjected to a moment later. "Sorry," she raised her arms defensively. "You have all the right to. My bad, my bad."

"Well, then it's great you decided to pop by," Buffy shifted a little in her position, so she could look at the brunette better. "I kinda like being all alive-y."

"That works out just fine, 'cause I like you all alive-y as well," Faith nodded seriously. "Unlike some, I don't do the unde... oomph," she rubbed her gut, which had met the bottom of Buffy's foot a second ago. "Jeez, B, if that's what I get for savin' your ass, then remind me not to do it again."

The two of them exchanged a grin, before looking at Giles, who had spoken up again.

"After you two killed the Mayor, what happened then?"

"We kinda checked each other out," Faith replied, "In a totally innocent manner of course. And then I jumped onto a plane and B went to that friggin' dance. End of night."

"But you kept in touch?"

Buffy was the one to respond this time.

"Yeah, I mean so would you if you had just found out that you're not really the only one in the world. It was a relieving feeling actually, but still surprising. So we called and sent emails and just kinda helped each other out."

"Helped each other out? What do you mean?"

Faith grinned suddenly, giving Buffy the immediate feeling that whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be liked by their Watchers.

"For example, B here was a big bowl of informative rainbows when it came to tying Watchers down to stuff, so they couldn't follow you and possibly get themselves killed."

See?! She knew it.

"Ouch," Faith grabbed the foot that had once again hit her and held it still, while the blonde tried to kick her again. She grinned at the huff the shorter of the two let out a moment later, as she gave up struggling. Her foot remained in Faith's lap and a second later she lifted her other one there as well.

"It happened to you too then, I presume?" Diana asked quietly, sipping her tea.

Giles hmm-ed softly, pretending to clean his glasses.

"The Slayer is rather strong, is she not?"

"Very fast too," Diana nodded, shaking her head a little at the amused glances they earned from their Slayers. She leant over the table to refill her teacup.

"How much can they drink?" Buffy whispered, watching with wide eyes as Giles did the same. This had to be the sixth cup he had had this night.

"I think they have no limits," Faith murmured, looking at her own cup that was still half-filled from the first time Giles had offered it to her. "Or tastebuds. This stuff tastes like..."

"Tastes like what?" Giles peered at her over his cup.

Buffy hid her grin at the look on Faith's face.

"Best tea ever, G-man," Faith ended her sentence. "So... about those other questions you had for us...?"

"Smooth," Buffy spoke under her breath, smiling a little when Faith merely patted her leg in response.

"B would love to respond to all of them, by the way."

"Or not? Faith seems to think she knows everything, you should totally ask her," the blonde immediately retort, looking between the two Watchers' as if she really believed they would only torture one of them.

"Luckily for you, this one is directed at you both," Diana, not seeming all that amused by them right now, spoke. "Why didn't you tell us about each other earlier?"

Buffy and Faith both paused, neither having a straight answer for that one.

"Uh..."

"Well..."

They exchanged a look.

"It was hard for us to believe in the start," Buffy finally begun. "To find someone who gets what this means. And since you two always told us there can only be one, we thought that maybe this was a false alarm or... something."

"Yeah, we kinda figured we'd bring ya here and do this face-to-face with these little cookies and ... awesome tea and crap," Faith nodded, taking over. "But since B was in L.A for the summer and you had that retreat, then we had no chance earlier."

"Plus with those asses on high places..."

"Faith!"

"Right, sorry, you love those asses," Faith rolled her eyes. "But come on, they didn't even bother to tell us what the fuck was going on. And I know you believe they always have their higher reasons and all, but if they don't even inform you about things like this, then why should we?"

"Because we care about you."

Faith's heated stare dissolved as she threw a look at Giles.

"The Council has always done what it deems to be the best without telling anyone why. This is how it has always been. However, a Slayer and a Watcher are supposed to trust each other. Which is why I have always expected honesty from Buffy and why I have always tried to be honest with her," the man continued. "But it would seem that this feeling does not in fact go both ways."

He removed his glasses yet again, refusing to look at the blonde, who had immediately sat up a little, ready to protest. She never got the chance to though, as Giles had already stood up.

"I'll go get more tea."

All three women surveyed as the man grabbed the teapot and left the living room without another word.

"Alright," Faith breathed a moment later. "Now** I** feel like shit and I don't even know the guy."

"He's far too invested in this relationship though," Diana spoke quietly a moment later. "Of course we must have trust, but there still has to be a sense of authority. To treat you as equals would mean relinquishing the control of the Council. But then again, considering how he has treated the rule of secrecy..." Diana continued, rather quietly so the man in the kitchen wouldn't hear. However, the man in the kitchen wasn't the one that was bothered by her either.

Buffy was about to say something rather nasty to the older woman, when a small pressure on her thigh stopped her. Immediately, she looked up to see Faith leaning a bit closer.

"Ignore her," she whispered softly. "She's a really cool chick most of the time, but sometimes she has her moments. Like when we talk about the always lovable Council. Just tune it out like I do," she added, before pretending to grab her jacket from near the blonde.

"So, Di, is there anything else we need to discuss or can I ditch this... party we have goin' on here?"

The woman, who had been murmuring something and making notes into a black book she had open in her hands, looked up.

"Certainly not, Faith," She replied. "We have much more to discuss."

The brunette groaned throwing her jacket onto the armrest.

"Seriously, we've been here for two hours and we're still repeating the same stuff we spoke of at the start," She glanced at Buffy, who was gazing at the doorway worriedly.

"Well, we should go over everything to see if you're both really slayers of if there's been a mix up of some sort," Diana pushed her glasses back a little. "Perhaps..."

"We're both Slayers."

The sentence was spoken by both Buffy and Faith at the same time.

"Di, ya know I'm the real deal. And B here... do you see someone this tiny take down three vampires if she wasn't a Slayer?"

"Oh. Uh. No," Diana nodded slowly and scribbled something into her book again, thus ignoring the evil eye Buffy threw Faith for the tiny comment most likely. "Then we need to figure out the reason there's two of you..."

"Can't help ya. Ask your bosses for that one," Faith interrupted. "Anything else?"

Diana threw her a tad bit annoyed look.

"Consequences?"

"Consequences?" Buffy spoke up, looking away from the kitchen door. "What kind?" Immediately her thoughts went to their tingles and their shared dreams. "Consequences of the bad variety?"

"That's exactly it. We can not know for certain," Diana frowned a little. "This is unheard of. The results that this could have, the way it could affect both of you... If you notice anything odd happening, be sure to..." She paused, this time noticing the exchange of glances on the couch. "Have you already noticed anything odd happening?"

Buffy hesitated. She was not about to tell about her dreams and lose them. However, there was something else. Something odd.

"Tingles."

"What sort of tingles?" The voice came from behind her. Soon enough, Giles appeared in her view, carrying a steaming pot of tea. He placed it down and took his seat in the armchair, keeping his eyes on the blonde.

Buffy swallowed, before explaining.

"I feel them when I'm around Faith. If she's in the area, I can feel it and the closer she gets the stronger is the sensation," glancing down at the brunette's arm on her leg, she continued. "It's like a constant hum going through my body. Just waves of... electricity." She swallowed, looking at Giles again. "In a way, it's similar to the thing I feel when I'm sensing vampires, only... better."

The man, if hurt by Buffy's earlier behaviour, wasn't showing it as he gave her a concerned look immediately.

"Would you define these as a disturbing feeling? Something that could distract you on patrol or..."

"No," Buffy replied. "They don't bother me. Not at all. More like they make me feel... safe. And not alone."

"What do you mean?" Diana leant back into the armchair a little.

"It's hard to describe, Di," Faith stared out of the window. "Just when we're around each other... it's like B pings on my slaydar like crazy."

The two adults in the room exchanged a meaningful glance.

Giles made a sound in his throat.

"Most likely it's just because you're both supernatural. Since I believe that you both have rather good skills in detecting vampires, you're probably also picking up each other."

"So it's no biggie, right?" Buffy asked hopefully. "Nothing abnormal or odd that could be slowly killing us?"

"No, probably not," Giles spoke, before leaning towards Diana. "Have you heard from the Council's..."

"Would be an awesome way to die though, B," Faith wiggled her eyebrows at her, making sure the talking Watchers couldn't hear her. When Buffy gave her a roll of eyes in return, her mouth twitched a little. "What, it's true."

"What is?" Diana looked up from her tiny black book.

"Nothing," Faith shrugged, amusedly looking at the wiggling toes in her lap and then at the face of the now grinning blonde.

Buffy, rather relieved that their connection wasn't anything weird and that their Watchers weren't in fact about to crucify them, looked at Diana. True, the woman did kinda scare her and her earlier ode to the Council did kinda make her want to throw some of these cookies at her, but right now, she wasn't that bothered by her. Thus, the carefree question,

"But it's just us, right? No more secret Slayers popping out any time soon?"

"Well we can't be sure, considering how the Council has kept us in the dark this long," Giled stated, resentment as clear as day in his voice, "But that would be extremely unlikely."

Diana played with her glasses a little, before adding quietly,

"Although this does explain why the Council ordered us to leave all of the sudden."

It seemed that the two Slayers on the couch froze. Buffy's toes stopped moving and the grin on her face disappeared slowly but surely to be replaced with a frown. The same happened to Faith's amused expression.

"Where are we goin' anyways?" She asked quietly.

"It's unclear. Cleveland is the most probable place."

"And when?"

"In two weeks," Diana replied. "I know you have made friends here, but the Council..."

"It's no big, Di. Gotta do what you gotta do," the brunette slowly pushed Buffy's legs off her lap and stood up. "Speakin' of which, shouldn't I go patrol?"

"Well," the blonde woman glanced at her watch. "It is pretty late, but we have a lot to discuss."

"Yeah, well, do ya really need me?" Faith pulled on her jacket already. "Cause we've been here for a while and I'm feeling kinda antsy right now. I mean sure, I can tell ya more later, but I need some..." she made an unclear motion with her hand.

"Just go," Diana sighed and waved towards the door, tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear once again. "I will remain here for the time being. Discuss things with Rupert and maybe..."

"Catch up a little," Giles offered with his shy British smile. "It's been a while."

"It has," Diana nodded softly and shocking the socks off Buffy's feet by smiling back a little. This was the first time she had seen the woman do anything emotion-like.

Emotions kind of suited her.

Faith looked between the two, raised an eyebrow and then shook her head, as she moved towards the hallway for her boots.

"I don't even wanna know," she murmured, pulling on one of her boots. She was about to pull on the other, when she realized something. She peeked into the living room to see the blonde still on the couch, looking uncomfortable. "B, are ya comin' or should I go find ya some sort of a written invitation?"

The blonde turned towards her, a look of surprise crossing her features for a moment. Then she was up on her feet and already moving towards her.

"I had a feeling you wanted to get away," she spoke, slipping her shoes on with ease.

"From the nosy Watcher people, hell yeah," Faith threw her jacket at her. "But not from you. Seriously, how blonde can ya be?"

"Don't mock me."

"I can't help it, 'cause you make it so easy."

Buffy placed her stake under her jacket and breezed out of the door, ignoring the brunette who followed her.

"I'm done, no more friendly Buffy for you," she declared a moment later, turning towards the nearest cemetery. "If you can't appreciate me, then this relationship is over!"

Faith gave an exasperated sigh, before speeding up a little to keep up.

"Fine," she spoke, shoving her hands into her back pockets as if she had no care in the world. "It's not like I enjoyed our relationship anyways."

Buffy made a weird amused sound in the back of her throat.

"You didn't put out enough for my taste," Faith continued, completely serious. "I find that a big part of a relationship personally."

"I've heard," the blonde spoke, her lips twitching a little. "So you don't think I put out enough, huh?"

"Nope," Faith shook her head, as the two of them turned in unison, heading to the left now. "That's why I'm still here, ya know. My get some, get gone routine and all. It doesn't work that well without the getting part, B."

"Let me get this straight," Buffy made a thoughtful face. "You don't think you could get gone, without me doing something like..." she came to a sudden halt, grabbed the brunette's hand and brought her closer until they were pretty much pressed together. She looked up at her and added in a quiet voice. "Putting out?"

Faith, totally taken for a surprise there for a moment, blinked. The tingling still in her system, she opened her mouth and closed it for a sec. Then she shook her head.

"Good," the blonde grinned. "Then I'll never put out." She placed a chaste kiss on Faith's cheek and jumped back, once again starting to head towards the cemetery. "That solves our current problem."

Faith grinned a little, before following her.

"I totally won that round by the way," the blonde called over her shoulder.

"Firstly, you so crossed some sort of a boundary right there!" The younger of the two exclaimed, easily catching up with the blonde. "Secondly, that was kinda evil and thirdly, I really like the way ya think. I'd like to believe I've been an awesome influence on ya."

She bumped her shoulder against the blonde's, who merely gave her a cheeky smile in return, before retorting,

"We haven't even set any boundaries. And thank you." She pretended.

"We really haven't, have we?" Faith murmured thoughtfully. She smirked a second later. Buffy, suddenly feeling the brunette's eyes on her, looked at her to find her gazing at her with a rather interesting look.

A look that made the blonde wish they had boundaries. Like a lot of them. For her own protection.

Faith however merely continued to look at her with this big grin on her face.

"You know, I am so totally remembering that for future references," she spoke, still grinning.

Buffy watched the brunette with an amused expression. No, she was still scared by what she might come up in the future, but right now, she was just really glad she had a reason to be worried.

In two weeks, Faith wouldn't even be able to mock her anymore. No more Faith and Buffy strolling through the cemeteries. No more Faith and Buffy mocking Snyder after every time they saw him and his tiny bald head in the hallways. No more Faith and Buffy, period.

Faith, noticing the blonde fall behind a little, turned around, walking backwards for a change. She tilted her head a little and asked,

"You still with me?"

Buffy's eyes focused again and as she thought over the question, she realized something. She answered with a smile on her face.

"You know what, I don't think you'll ever get rid of me."

Faith turned around when the blonde finally caught up with her. She placed her hands back into the pockets of her jeans as they entered the graveyard side-by-side.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, B."  
**  
XxXxXxXxXx**

A/N – One rather long chapter. Wohoo me. If only I could dedicate as much effort into my schoolwork. I'd be ... like... smart?

Hopefully, you liked the chapter. And as always, feedback is my friend and I appreciate anyone who takes time to let me know how I'm doing.

Take care, guys and OH! Try not to catch that "piggy flu" that's going around :D

**Love, me**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"It's unnatural," a raspy groan interrupted Buffy's quest for a perfect outfit.

"What is?" the blonde glanced over her shoulder as she threw yet another top into the pile she had named 'good looking, but not fit for tonight'.

"You taking so damn long to choose a fuckin' shirt!" Faith drawled, propping herself up to her elbow. Sprawled on her stomach on Buffy's bed, she grabbed Mr. Gordo from nearby and used him as a personal pillow. "How hard can it be?"

"Hey, fashion takes time."

"When it comes to you, fashion takes more time than it takes a legless old dude to swim over the fuckin' ocean!" The brunette complained. "And what's wrong with the black one? That would definitely look good on ya."

"I think it might be a bit too revealing for me. And in my defence, I can't just throw something random on and be done with it," Buffy replied matter-of-factly, before she held up a white t-shirt. "It's not like I could wear something like this tonight, right?"

Faith looked at the item of clothing, then at Buffy and back at the said shirt.

"Considering your tone and the look you're givin' me right now, I'm gonna go with 'hell no'?"

"Of course not! If you go on a patrol in a white shirt, you'll end up ruining it with stains you'll never get out!" Buffy exclaimed, throwing the shirt onto her ever-growing pile. "You know, Faith, sometimes you seem to have no common sense."

"Jesus fuckin' Christ," Faith groaned as if in physical pain. "Why are you torturing me? Really, what did I do? I'll make it up to you, I swear, but for my sanity's sake, could you just pick something already."

"She won't 'cause she's_ stuuuupid_," a voice piped up.

Faith turned her head. So did Buffy.

"Dawn, get out of my room," the blonde commanded, waving towards the door with a green shirt in her hand. When Dawn opened her mouth, she added, "And no, you can't take Faith with you on your way out. Now go, shoo."

The eleven-year-old rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Mom said dinner's ready," she looked at Buffy snootily, before turning around and pretty much stomping out.

"God, how I wish I was the only child," Buffy stared at the doorway for another second, before diving back into her pile of clothes. "I don't know how you stand her."

"She's not that bad for a brat," Faith shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, she's a Summers. You guys are all a hoot and a half."

Buffy shook her head as she grabbed an armful of clothes from the floor and pushed them into one of the shelves with sheer force.

"She's actually like one quarter of that half of a hoot. On her really really good days."

Faith opened her mouth, then closed it and laughed.

"Whatever." Once again resting her chin on Mr. Gordo. "So, what's so important 'bout today anyways? Considering you have the urge to find the 'perfect' clothing and all?"

Buffy paused.

"Well, I'm seeing Angel for the first time in a while and you know, you'll get to finally meet him. Plus, it might be the very last time you, me and the gang gets to hang out before you move again. These occasions require proper clothing."

"Okay," Faith climbed out of the bed, coming to stand next to the blonde, who was kneeling in front of her closet. "See, considering how at least one of the occasions evolves around yours-truly, I gotta have a say in this."

"If you had a say in this, I probably wouldn't get to wear a top," Buffy responded dryly, before pulling out a frilly pink shirt with ruffles. She lifted it up with two of her fingers, as her brows furrowed in distaste. "This cannot be mine. Must've been planted here by some fashion terrorists."

A devious expression crossed Faith's face, before she grabbed the thing from Buffy.

"Wear this."

Buffy looked at her as if she had just sprouted three extra eyes and a set of horns.

"Uh, how about no?"

"Come on, it's my last request," Faith pulled the item to her chest with a wounded look on her face. "Won't you do that for a friend?"

"If an apocalypse comes and the only way to save the world is by me wearing that thing, I'll send you a message saying 'buh-bye'," Buffy snatched the thing back from her and jammed it into the farthest corner of her closet. "We will never speak about that thing ever again."

She halted her movements, when she felt Faith crouch down behind her and pull something out of her 'good looking, but not fit for tonight' pile.

She had no idea how, but she just knew what it was.

"It's too much for a casual night out, Faith."

"It's not like ya need a reason to look smokin' hot, B," Faith's raspy voice was so close to her she felt the warmth of her breath on her shoulder. A hand was thrown gently over her shoulder and an item of clothing was dropped into her lap. "Now go on and put it on. No arguing."

With a sigh, Buffy grabbed it and held it up. Then, just when she knew Faith was about to say something to edge her on, she stood up.

She was about to retreat to the bathroom, when she noticed Faith looking up at her with a slightly odd expression.

"What?" She asked, slightly unnerved by it.

Faith's lips curled slightly.

"Nothing. It's just that if I'd know all it took was a little dominance to get ya goin', I would have cracked the whip a while ago."

"Bite me," Buffy rolled her eyes, exiting the room. However, she still heard the laughter and the soft,

"Gettin' kinkier by the moment, B!"

She smiled as she slid into the bathroom. She stared into the mirror as the smile slowly slid off her face. She placed her hands on the edge of the sink and exhaled loudly. Her mind was a jumbled mess rivalling even her closet, where most clothes had just been shoved into.

Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing had ever since the night she made a playful joke about putting out to Faith and then proceeded to dream about it the same night.

And the dream was not K-rated, people. Thank god, Diana kept Faith up late that night with questions about the two of them.

It couldn't be normal that she had a dream like that about Faith. Her friend Faith. Her friend Faith, who had the raspiest voice or the softest of...

She exhaled loudly once more.

Overreacting and panicking weren't really her things. Usually, when bigass demons jumped at her, she didn't panic. Instead, she made a pun or two and got rid of them. With ease, might she add.

She slid one of her hands over her hair.

God how nice it'd be if she could just slay these thoughts or something.

She looked at the image of herself.

Oh, she was in deep trouble.

"Buffy, Faith! Dinner!"

Shaking her head just to clear it a little, she grabbed the edges of her shirt and tugged it off; pulling on the thing Faith had chosen instead. She looked at her reflection again a moment later and had to admit it. She really did look damn good in that black top.

Casually flicking open the laundry bin, she threw her other shirt into it and made her way out of the bathroom.

Faith was still in her room.

"Ya know, if you wanted to just change ya could've kicked me out," the brunette spoke from an odd place. The odd place being underneath Buffy's bed.

"Faith, what are you doing?"

"I was toying with the chain," the muffled response came quickly. "And it came loose and the ring just took off. Little bastard. And now I can't find it and I am pretty fuckin' sure one of your socks bit me."

Suddenly, Buffy saw something glinting on the floor.

"Faith?"

"Mhm?" Buffy looked at the wiggling feet that dangled out from under the bed, before bending down to pick up the 'lost' item, that just happened to lay there, right in the middle of the floor.

"I found it."

A small pause.

"It wasn't even under the bed, was it?"

"Nope."

"Ah, figures," Faith's feet wiggled a little more as the brunette started to back her way out. Finally clear, she hopped up and dusted off her denim jacket. "See, this is why I prefer cots, way..." Her eyes slid to Buffy. "Hot."

"Cots are hot?" Buffy asked with a smile.

"No, B," Faith took a step back, a grin sliding on her lips. She whistled quietly. "You are. Ya know, I didn't know you had it in you. But here you are, all grown up. And it happened so fast." She made a show of shedding a fake tear. "See, tear."

Buffy rolled her eyes, even though her smile remained.

"I wouldn't do that. Mock me I mean."

"No?"

"Nope," the blonde toyed with the silver ring in her hand. "You never know what you might lose because of that."

Faith's eyes followed the ring now.

"Gimme that."

"Let me think about that very deeply and seriously," Buffy's smile grew as she placed her index finger on her nose. "No."

And before she could even comprehend what she had just done, Faith was all over her. Buffy laughed, trying to get out of the hold the brunette suddenly had her in, but the more she wiggled the tighter the arms around her got, until she was pretty much rendered immobile.

"Gimme."

Buffy held her hand as far in front of her as possible, while Faith, pressed behind her, tried to grab the one holding the ring. But every time she tried to get it, Buffy merely moved her hand with a chuckle.

However, the chuckle soon died, as a hand wrapped around the blonde's waist and pulled her even closer, while another one tried wrapped itself around her forearm. Faith's laugh rang in the shell of her ear and the combined feel of the tingles of their bond and the tingles she felt just because....

"Here." Suddenly, Buffy practically forced the ring into Faith's hand, quickly disentangling herself from the other girl's hold as soon as she could.

Surprised, the brunette took the silver thing. She slid it back onto the chain and looked at the blonde, while she fastened the thing around her neck.

"That was way too easy," she stated. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Buffy replied fast, maybe even too fast. "Just you know, my mom... she's waiting downstairs for us with dinner and stuff."

"Oh! Dinner!" Faith's eyes lit up. "Can't miss that. Good thinking, B."

The two of them made their way downstairs and to the living room, where Joyce and Dawn were already sitting down, having obviously started without them.

"It's about time. I thought you two got lost," Joyce spoke over her glass of juice. Her eyes fell onto Buffy. "That's a nice top."

"Uh, thanks mom," the blonde slid into the seat opposite of her. She sat down and looked behind her for the brunette. "You need a written invitation or something, Faith?"

Faith flicked the back of the blonde's head when her own words were thrown back at her.

"Nope, just noticed your mom's glass is already empty. Different from some, I have manners... well sometimes. Want me to get ya a refill, Mrs. S?"

Buffy snickered.

"Suck up."

"Buffy!" Joyce reprimanded her almost immediately. "That would be very nice. Thank you, Faith."

"Anything for a beautiful lady," Faith winked.

Joyce smiled bashfully.

Buffy however chocked on the juice she had sipped.

"Seriously!?" she managed to cough out just as Faith grabbed her mom's glass. "Seriously, Faith?"

Faith merely grinned at her as she slipped into the kitchen. Joyce watched her leave and then turned towards her daughter.

"She's such a nice girl. It's sad that she's moving away."

"Faith's moving?" Dawn looked at them both with wide eyes. "What? WHY!?"

Buffy sighed as she heard – as well as _felt-_ Faith move around in the kitchen.

"Cause life sucks, Dawn."

"Buffy!"

"What? It does," the blonde spoke defensively. All they got was a month. One measly month. Faith was only in Sunnydale for ... okay four months, but they only got to spend like a month together. And three out of those four weeks they were given were over.

Over the last three weeks, Faith had become a constant in this household. Whether she walked home with Buffy after school, came to pick her up for their nightly patrols or just decided to drop in, because Cordelia had Gina attached to her... it didn't matter. She was just there. A lot.

And none of the Summers women were the least bothered by it.

Dawn found Faith to be extremely cool. Leather, wicked words, talks about boys and motorcycles and the way she didn't treat Dawn like a baby. All of that made Dawn look up to her as a role model of sorts.

Joyce found Faith to be an amusing and rather charming young woman. She had to admit that a small bit of her was worried about Buffy interacting with a girl that 'so out there' to say, but as soon as she saw the sincerity in Faith's eyes when she promised to look after the blonde when they went out jogging in the evenings... She was sold.

And Buffy...

Well, as previously said, nobody minded having Faith around.

And now she was moving.

"But why?" Dawn whined.

For once, Buffy wanted to join her in something. Yet, she had her pride and whining wouldn't have been all that Slayerish of her. So instead, she quietly sipped her drink until Faith plopped into the seat next to her, placing a glass of juice in front of her mom.

The dinner passed uneventfully in overall. Of course, Faith had to pacify the upset Dawn and then also explain to Joyce what they had planned for the night and the next day for that matter.

"Oh, nothing much," Faith casually leant back in her chair. "I was thinkin' some movies with the gang, maybe goin' a bit nuts with popcorn, lame party games and then crashin' from exhaustion by sunrise. Whatcha think?"

A smile appeared on Joyce's face.

"Sounds like a nice girls night in."

"Plus Xander," Faith added with a grin of her own. "Dunno why, but he doesn't really dig being one of the girls."

"Figure that," the older woman smiled.

"Speakin' of which, we should motorvate soon, B," Faith turned to look at her friend. "Just so we'd get settled in and all." Her eyes widened now for some reason and her tone turned into something of wariness. "You have your sh... stuff together, right?"

"Yep," the blonde couldn't help but grin.

"No pyjamas to choose?"

"Nope."

"Oh, thank god," Faith breathed, before hopping up. Buffy followed her lead before looking at her mom.

"Hey, do you need help with..." she gestured to the table at which Joyce shook her head.

"No, it's okay. Dawn and I can handle it."

The small kid, who had already occupied the couch and was now flipping through the channels, groaned loudly.

Buffy grinned.

"Cool. So I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said, backing out of the living room. Faith was already in the hallway slipping on her boots. Buffy held up a finger and headed upstairs, grabbing a small duffel bag, before appearing in the hallway again.

"See ya," Faith called towards the living room, getting bids of goodbye in return.

"Did you notice, how they didn't say goodbye to me?" Buffy asked, as soon as they were out of the front door. "Really, how do you do that?"

"By bein' all around awesome," Faith replied with ease. "Weird lyin' to your mom though."

"Yeah, speaking of which, what are we really doing tonight?"

"Well, first we're gonna kick some undead ass, then I might have to watch you make out with some undead ass, hey watch it," Faith laughed, dodging the duffle bag swung at her, "and then," she turned to look at her. "We let loose."

Buffy's steps slowed a little.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Faith kept her eyes at her. "Remember, I promised to help ya do that once. Besides, I think ya might really need it. You've been all sorts of jumpy these past few days. So, I'm thinkin' the Bronze. We go there, dance a little, drink a little and then maybe move the party into the house I have all to myself thanks to Giles and Diana heading to England for that 'emergency meeting'" her lips curled into a half-grin. "I already talked Xan-man and Red into it, so this is gonna be fun."

Buffy slid her tongue over her bottom lip.

"You know I get all touchy-feely with all sorts of people I shouldn't get touchy-feely with when I'm drunk," she finally murmured after a moment of hesitation.

Faith laughed a carefree laugh and bumped her shoulder into hers. Which action sent more shivers down Buffy's spine, she couldn't tell.

"Don't worry, B. I'll keep you close by at all times."

Yeah.

That was what she was afraid of.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – I think this is what people have been expecting for a while. Something to move in the right direction. Ta-daa. There you go. Oh and this is dedicated to three of my reviewers: **Hotcutii3,** **Ryoko05 **_(who sort of gave me the idea of this storyline, when she asked me to make Buffy fall first for a change)_ and **uluvme**. You three have been there for a WHILE and I've actually become accustomed to ya. I don't know you, but **I love you :D** Thanks for sticking by me through thick and thin.

See, I'm sick and I'm writing like crazy and I'm gonna get back my test results tomorrow. Wish me luck. It's kinda ironic, cause I don't know if I want them all to be negative or not. I'm in a way, enjoying the break from all the stress of school and the ability to sit down and write whenever I want to, but at the same time – who likes to be sick?

Also, I think I might spend tomorrow mourning the loss of **Dollhouse**. *Sigh* Why do all good things come to an end so fast?

- Big assed author's speech again. I should work on finding a support group to get through this.

**Love, me**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14  
**

She dropped to the ground with a small groan, rolling away quickly and thus managing to avoid the leather boot that stomped down a moment later.

Flipping herself up again, Buffy wheeled around, ready to retaliate. However before she could get to the actual ass-kicking, something else caught her attention. Her eyes widened, her hands fell onto her sides and she clutched the material covering her stomach, completely horrified.

"Are you joking me?" She tugged on the cloth and poked the stain now apparent on her tank top. Un-friggin'-believable! She threw a sharp look at the one responsible and threw her hands up into the air in irritation. "I just bought this, you know!"

"Sorry?"

Buffy squealed and jumped back, avoiding the kick that seemed to accompany the apology. She felt her back collide with something very solid and a tiny wave of nerves shot up her spine.

She was trapped. Oh damn, damn, damn.

She patted the thing behind her, warily watching her opponent approach her as she did so. A wall. Probably the mausoleum. Chances of breaking through it – zero.

A fist headed right at her.

Lacking alternative escape routes, she ducked.

"OW. Mother-fuckin'..."

After letting out a cheeky snigger, Buffy evaluated her situation. Crouched down by the mausoleum wall, right in front of a nice looking pair of legs, she was smart enough to know what to do next. Her leg swiped out and in less than a second her opponent tumbled onto the ground with a small 'oomph'.

The blonde stood up, a victorious grin on her face. Glancing down at the one she had defeated, her grin widened. She felt oddly satisfied and carefree right now. No weird thoughts to bug her, no doubts in her mind, no...

"If ya wanted me on my back, B, ya should've just asked."

...innuendos.

Buffy brushed it off though – as well as she could – and presented the brunette on the ground with a brilliant reply,

"Shut up."

Faith laughed, heartfelt, even though slightly out of breath. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and slid her hand over her hair, getting it out of her face. Doing so she realized that her hand, not that surprisingly, hurt like hell.

Tilting her head she lifted her hand in front of her face and noted, quite dryly,

"That was one wicked strong mausoleum."

"I say it was karma," Buffy responded, glancing at the stain on her brand new top. "Although, that hit was rather impressive." Her brow furrowed now and out of the blue she turned towards the brunette with an affronted, "Hey! What if I hadn't ducked?"

"Come on, it's you, B. You _always _manage to duck," Faith replied, leaning back. Not comfortable, she let herself fall onto the ground mere moments later, folding her good hand under her head. She rolled her tongue, in thought. "Yah, you'd think I could've remembered that lil' fact two minute ago."

"Well, it's no secret you're slow sometimes," Buffy teasingly replied, casually hopping onto the headstone nearby. Taking in the position Faith was in, she had to admit that she had never seen someone look that comfortable splayed across someone's grave during the night. "Does it hurt?"

Faith lazily turned her head.

"Only the first time, I guess. You know what they say - it'll get better the more you..."

"Faith," Buffy interrupted, knowing where this was headed. "Your hand. Does your hand hurt?"

"Oh, that's what you asked?" The brunette grinned, closing her eyes again. "Nah, it's five-by-five."

Moments later, Buffy let her eyes slide from the brunette's face to her hand resting right under her...

"B, you're either not believing my 'it's five-by-five' or you're ruthlessly checking out my rack. Better be the last one."

Come on, her eyes were still closed. There's no way she could've seen her look at her.

As if reading her thoughts or rather correctly interpreting the silence, Faith spoke up,

"I'm a hot chick with superpowers and leather. I can pretty much do anything." She opened her eyes and grinned. "Seriously, the hand's fine."

"Doesn't hurt or anything?"

"Nope."

The blonde narrowed her eyes.

"Prove it. Wiggle them."

"What?" Faith seemed to be amused if anything by the request.

"The fingers. You know, like this," Buffy moved all of her fingers. "Wiggle, wiggle."

Faith rolled her eyes, but knowing the blonde as well as she did, threw her hand up in the air anyways and moved them – ridiculously fast.

"Look, B. Spirit fingers!" She smirked at the half-smile she got in return. "Knew you watched that bullshit."

"I have no idea what you're referring to," the blonde innocently inspected her nails, before flicking a piece of dirt from the headstone towards the girl on the ground. "Also, I believe this is the pot calling kettle a cheerleading movie watc... Oh. Finally!"

Buffy scooted down from the gravestone, stepping back to observe the ground moving just slightly.

"You'll take care of it, right?" Faith asked from her position, seemingly not about to move.

Buffy threw her a look.

"What? You're just going to lay there?"

"I'm injured," the brunette answered, raising herself slightly to look at the hand that had just popped out from the grave. "Besides it's a newbie. Not like you need backup on this one."

Buffy gave a nod in agreement. That was true. Also, another fight wouldn't be too bad. Maybe she could have a little fun here.

The man was climbing out of the grave by now, all dirty and pale. He noticed them both and leered, obviously thinking he was one lucky undead man.

Buffy was starting to really like the idea of kicking his ass.

He stumbled towards them, ready to lunge.

"Hey, dude!" Faith shifted her legs a little, as the guy almost fell on them. "You step on me, and I swear to god, I'll kick your ass."

"She's not joking," Buffy replied, casually brushing against the stake she had in her waistband behind her back. "She's always had issues with people stepping on her."

"Well, wouldn't you?" Faith ignored the vampire in front of her and looked up at the blonde nearby. "It's not a nice feeling, okay?"

The vampire growled.

"I guess not," Buffy scratched the back of her neck. "And his boots are all muddy too. That'd ruin your clothes."

"Exactly," Faith placed her head back on the ground, but not before giving the dead guy another warning glare. "Do try to avoid stepping on me, okay?"

"I just want to drink your blood!"

...

Buffy was the first one to burst out laughing, split-second before Faith followed her lead.

"I can't believe it," The blonde gasped through laughter, moving to the right, making the vampire follow her movement. "Just when I think there's nothing they can say to catch me off guard..."

"They smack you in the face with the lamest vampire line ever," Faith supplied, still chuckling, as she watched the blonde casually face-off to the pale dude. "So fuckin' original."

The vampire was obviously not expecting a verbal beating. His head kept snapping from the girl in front of him to the girl casually lounging on the ground nearby. Neither of them seemed scared, but he knew just the way how to fix it.

Now what did he have to do to make his face work.

Hm.

Oh. There we go.

"Are you ready to die?" He asked, enjoying the feeling of power coursing through him. He was going to kill them both and enjoy making them pay. The blonde in front of him looked up at him with wide green eyes. Gleeful at the sign of fear, he asked, "Are you scared?"

And then she grinned.

"Of course I am. There's only so much lame lines a girl can take per night, you know."

That was his limit. He lunged, ready to rip the tiny girl to pieces. Imagine his surprised when he attacked and ended up face down in the ground, his back aching from the sudden kick the blonde had somehow placed there, even though he was quite certain she had been facing him.

Even angrier now, he got onto his feet and shot towards her again, hands outstretched.

With ease that scared the crap out of him, the blonde caught his arm, kneed him in the stomach and sent him flying head first into a mausoleum nearby.

He groaned at the collision.

The words "I can relate" coming from the brunette lounging on the ground rang in his head as he did so.

Faith looked away from the pathetic vampire and at Buffy, smirking now,

"Looks like the guy isn't even trying."

"I know right," Buffy turned her back to the guy and faced her best friend instead. "I get all dressed up for them, spend my valuable time thinking up witty things to say, hang out in cemeteries to get a chance to meet them and all I get is a incompetent fighter with sentences like 'I want to drink your blood'."

She shook her head.

"Back in the old days, I had to actually try to beat a vampire in a fight."

"That was last week," Faith propped herself up on her elbow, watching as the vampire by the mausoleum got onto his feet. One glance at the blonde told her that Buffy was aware of it too.

"Yeah... those were the days," Buffy's hand grasped the stake as the vampire behind her straightened up. "The grass was greener, you know, and the cows were bigger or something like that."

Faith snorted.

"Cows were bigger?"

"I think so, I don't know, I didn't actually measure any," Buffy's hand twitched as the vampire, thinking he was sneaky and all, started to approach her slowly at start. Faith's eyes flew to him as soon as he picked up actual speed, but before Buffy could put her stake into action something else collided with the vampire.

One big muscular brooding vampire being that something else.

With a loud crash the two vampires smashed into the ground, struggling with each other.

Faith stood up, finally motivated enough to do so. Coming to stand next to Buffy, she surveyed the fight alongside with her best friend.

It wasn't the most enthralling fight ever, because one of them had an obvious upper hand here – Angel was the one on top, both figuratively and literally. Holding his opponent against the ground, he seemed to have no trouble grabbing hold of his head and twisting it until it snapped off with a loud crack and the body beneath him disappeared in a cloud of dust.

"Okay, that was not bad," Faith murmured, watching as the man, who she had happily dubbed as Soulboy a good while ago, got up and approached them, looking as dark and broody as Faith had seen him in Buffy's dream world.

"Hey," Buffy was the one to speak first, her eyes on her boyfriend. "Nice entrance."

"Yeah, well, I like showing off a little," Angel replied, his mouth curling. His eyes went onto Faith and after small hesitation, he nodded at her. "You must be Faith."

Faith nodded right back.

"And you must be Angel."

What followed was a rather silent scene. The wind blew softly; a crow made noise in the distance somewhere and Angel and Faith - they just stared at each other. For a while. In complete silence.

"Well... isn't this fun?" Buffy finally spoke up, clapping her hands together after the quiet had stretched on for long enough. "I just knew you two were going to be the best of pals."

Faith couldn't help it. While she knew that he was one of the good guys and Buffy's boytoy on top of that, the Slayer in her was still all sorts of itchy about it. Made her wonder how Buffy could stand it in such large quantities. Maybe she had found a way to somehow adjust her slaydar or something. Was that even possible?

Overall though, Faith had accepted the fact her best friend was dating a vamp a long while ago. Add that to the fact that he was hot and strong and used said strength to rip heads off from vampires?

Faith approved.

And in a rather Faith-like fashion, she just had to be clear about it. She dragged her eyes away from the man in front of her and turned towards the blonde,

"No wonder he gives ya that low tickle. Man's a beast with nice hair."

The look she gained from Buffy in return put a smirk on her face. The amused one she got from Angel widened it.

Even though she would've enjoyed teasing Buffy even a little more she, as a girl with experience and wisdom, knew what she was supposed to do. Making sure she had her stake, she started to slowly back away from the couple.

"Hey, I'm gonna check out the northern cemetery, 'kay and then head to the Bronze. I guess we could just meet there by 9 or something, right?"

"You sure?" Buffy looked uncertain. "Angel and I could come with..."

"Nah," Faith cut in. "You two should... find the fun a little. Was a pleasure to meet ya, Angel. B, I shall see you later and..." She flashed her dimples at her. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm gone."

Buffy grinned back at her.

"That doesn't leave out much."

"Exactly!" Faith sent a suggestive eyebrow waggle her way, before turning her back on the couple. Throwing a wave towards them without even as much as looking back, she walked off into the trees.

Buffy watched her leave, before turning towards her boyfriend. Firm hands wrapped themselves around her waist and she sighed happily, breathing in the scent that was so completely Angel.

"I missed you," she admitted, feeling herself relax for what seemed to be the first time in a long long while. Angel had always had this calming effect on her and nobody else could make her feel that safe.

Yet, merely moments later, when Angel captured her lips with his own, a certain person flashed through her mind.

Damn it.

This was not okay.

When Angel deepened the kiss, the lingering brunette in the back of her mind disappeared for the time being.

But the fact was that an evil, distracting Faith-shaped seed had been planted firmly into her mind. And even if she forgot about it sometimes, it still remained there, growing roots and branches and all sorts of things it shouldn't be growing.

It was likely that this could end up driving her completely crazy.

And that would just suck.

Big time.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N** – You know how you want to write and you sit down, open Word, stare at the blank page, close it and go do something else? This has been happening to me for a while now and I don't know how I even managed to type up a chapter.

It's really early, I've drunk a lot of coffee and if there're some mistakes in this, I sincerely apologize. I had someone check it, but she has had as much sleep as I have (None in the last 30 sth hours) and thus can't be trusted either ^^ Feel free to point them out.

And yes, I apologize for Bangel, but right now it's a part of Buffy, I'm afraid. I'll give you drinking soon to make up for it :D Promise!

**Love you,  
Me**


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